Primeval Season One
by shadowglove
Summary: Chloe was in love, and then she let her curiosity get the better and walked through an anomaly...waking up two years later. Now, in England, she must make a new life, & finds she and Nick Cutter might share more than just an interest in the unexplainable.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Primeval.**

Chapter 1/6

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"Sorry."

Chloe looked up at that accent and her heart began to speed rapidly in her chest.

He was handsome.

He was _very_ handsome.

"I wasn't looking where I was going either." She gave him a small smile, hating herself for how awkward she always seemed to get whenever faced with someone mildly good looking.

And this guy was _much_ more than just _mildly_ good looking.

He smiled at her, his hazel eyes seeming to track every feature of her face before his smile grew a bit wider. "I'm Ben." His hand was large, and when hers slid against it in a handshake she could feel it calloused. "Ben Becker, Tourist."

"Chloe Sullivan." She smiled. "Local."

They stayed like that for a moment before bursting into laughter, and Ben reached forwards, wrapping his arms around Chloe's waist, bringing her towards him and slightly off the ground.

Chloe's arms went around his neck and she smiled up into his face. "Lois says we're retarded every time we reenact that first meeting."

"Lois is just bitter and jealous." Ben replied with a grin.

She giggled, closing her eyes as he bent his head to cover her lips with his in a relaxed yet thorough kiss.

It was amazing to believe that she could be this way with someone.

When she'd run into Ben a month ago in Metropolis she thought it would just a memory of some random hot british hunk, and yet he'd asked her out for coffee...and here they were today.

"So, you ready for tonight?" He asked, smiling adoringly into her face.

"I _would_ be if you told me _what_ was happening." She grinned up brightly.

"But _that_ would take away from the surprise, now, wouldn't it?" He pecked her nose lovingly before letting go. "And speaking of which, I have to go call my mates and make sure that it's ready."

"It?" She picked up on that word hungrily. "What 'it'?"

He grinned at her as he backed up towards the front door of her apartment, in which he'd found himself staying at since he'd come to Metropolis. "Not weaseling it out of me, Ms. Daily Planet."

The junior reporter grinned at him, watching as he left.

That man was good at keeping secrets.

And this certain one was _killing_ her.

Hurrying to the window, she watched as he emerged from the apartment building and turned to look up at the window, smirking when he caught her looking at him.

She felt a blush appearing on her cheeks, and gave him a half wave.

Ben grinned and waved back, winking as he turned and began to walk down the busy streets.

Chloe sighed and turned her back on the window, pressing back against it and smiling.

She had it bad.

She had it _really_ bad.

What was she going to do when he had to return to England? His vacation wasn't going to last forever, and her heart was going to break, just like it always did.

Chloe nibbled on her thumbnail worriedly on the thought.

Suddenly a bright light exploded in the kitchen, bright and throbbing as if with life.

The cutlery in the kitchen began to shake in the dish drain before shooting forth into the bright white, glowing _thing_.

Chloe watched this from the entrance to the kitchen, eyes wide and heart racing, as every thing metallic seemed to be attracted towards this _thing_.

Gulping, the blonde considered trying to find her cellular to call Clark, but her curiosity got the better of her and she found her feet taking her towards the large glowing portal looking thing.

Hesitating a second in front of it, Chloe outstretched her hand tentatively towards it...and her hand went _through_ it, disappearing on the other side.

There was _another side_ to this thing.

And like in most aspects of her life, Chloe found her curiosity winning over her better judgement.

The blonde walked through the anomaly.

And it closed behind her.

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TWO YEARS LATER

A silver 4x4 pick up truck with a Department of Evolutionary Zoology logo on the door pulled up outside the Central Metropolitan University. Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart got out, Nick snorting as they spoke about Stephen's latest girlfriend.

"I think there's something seriously wrong with her."

Stephen snorted. "No, Nick, please. Tell me how you _really_ feel."

The old friends shared a smile as they continued towards the university they both worked at, traveling along a wooden walkway alongside on the buildings.

"Professor Cutter?" One of the students, a nerdy looking boy, approached them.

They ignored him, continuing to talk amongst themselves.

"Pro-!" The man dropped his armful of papers, cursing softly to himself as he picked them up rapidly and hurried after the two older men. "Professor Cutter!"

Finally, Nick sighed and turned to the much younger man. "Yes?"

The man smiled at him, outstretching his hand. "Connor Temple."

Nick thought for a moment. "Sorry, never heard of it. I think you want archaeology. If you go around up there to your right and keep on walking, its on your left."

Nick and Stephen both pointed to the right.

The young man looked confused. "No, it's not...it's not a place, it's my name." He cleared his throat. "I'm one of your students."

Nick raised and eyebrow and looked at the young man more thoughtfully. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Connor nodded.

"Well why...why don't I recognize you?" Nick wanted to know, a little suspicious.

Connor cleared his throat. "Well, you've never actually turned up for the seminars."

"Oh, right, that probably would be the reason." Nick agreed, nodding, before starting to walk off again, mystery solved.

Stephen joined him once more, both losing themselves to the conversation they'd been in before.

Connor took in a deep breath. "Professor!" He hurried after them, entering Nick's office, pausing when he saw the professor's desk, which was covered with various skulls, a leather bound journal, a couple of gems, and two pictures of the woman Connor knew to be Helen Cutter, Nick's wife.

"Don't touch anything." Nick called back to Connor. "This is my laboratory technician, Stephen Hart."

"Hi." Stephen acknowledged.

"Hi." Connor echoed.

Nick walked around to stand by his desk while Connor stood in front of the desk and Stephen walked over to a side table. Nick picked up a pile of paper in a pink folder and threw it into the bin by his desk.

Connor cleared his throat. "Oh, actually, that's my dissertation."

Nick straightened up and gave Connor a questioning look before retrieving the dissertation.

"Yeah." Connor nodded. "You see I argued that all life on Earth derived from organisms carried here by alien spacecraft." He grinned proudly. "It's pretty sexy stuff."

Nick pursed his lips and tossed the dissertation back in the trash.

Connor's smile dimmed. "It's a work in progress, really."

Nick picked up a piece of stone, which contained a fossilized fish skeleton. "Tell me what this is."

"A fish?" Connor made a face.

"Obviously." Nick replied. "It's a sarcopterygian. There's no trace of them in the fossil record for 70 million years, and then suddenly one of them just pops up in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Totally inexplicable in modern evolutionary terms. See, Darwin provides most of the answers, it's the piece that don't fit that interest me."

"See, that's why I was wondering if you'd seen this." Connor held up a newspaper with the headline 'MONSTER HOAX or Truly Beastly'. "Some sort of gigantic, undiscovered predator."

Nick unfolded the newspaper and could see a blurry picture of...no. It _couldn't_ be. He looked at Connor with disbelief before handing the paper to Stephen. "This is the real deal." Connor announced.

"Connor, you should get out more." Nick wouldn't look at the boy. "Go to a bar. Meet a nice girl. Life will seem a lot less confusing."

"I've already got a girlfriend." Connor defended. "Sort of."

Nick moved back behind his desk and took off his jacket.

"That's not really the point." Connor continued to champion his cause. "There's an eyewitness, claimed to have seen it."

"People claim to have seen the Loch Ness monster," Nick debated. "That doesn't mean it's there."

"Not now, obviously." Connor scoffed. "It died years ago."

Nick and Stephen shared disbelieving looks.

"The Government, they took the body away and covered up the whole thing." Connor pressed.

"This is just a hoax." Nick pressed. "Forget it."

"Your wife wouldn't have ignored it."

There was a moment of silence as Nick froze. "My wife was a serious scientist." He finally spoke. "She wasn't a gullible monster hunter."

Connor sighed, remorse obvious on his face. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Nick responded.

"I just thought you might want to check it out, that's all." Connor put the newspaper back in his back and started to move towards the door. "It's not as though the Forest of Dean is far away though."

Nick suddenly looked up, going pale. "The Forest of Dean?"

Stephen straightened from where he'd been looking at something with a microscope, turning to Nick.

Slowly, Nick turned to Stephen.

Connor frowned, looking between them in confusion.

Stephen, eyes on Nick, finally spoke. "If we leave now we could be there by lunch."

A large smile appeared on Connor's face.

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At the zoo, a young zookeeper, Abby Maitland, sat in one of the lizard enclosure, trying to persuade two of the lizards to mate.

"Come on guys, what are you waiting for?" She asked. "Soft light and a Frank Sinatra record?"

Abby's boss, Tim Parker, walked up to the enclosure and tapped on the glass partition. "How are Brad and Angelina?"

"Oh, totally gay, but otherwise fine." Abby quipped.

"They should be mating by now." Tim pointed out.

"Maybe they just don't fancy each other." Abby sighed.

Tim sighed as well. "Abby, a word."

The blonde with the shortly cropped hair stood, moving out of the enclosure to face her boss,

"Abby, I'm sorry." Tim faced her as well. "The sponsor's pulled out and I have to slim down the reptile program."

"And my job comes under the heading 'instant weight loss', right?" The tiny woman guessed before turing and storming out.

Tim followed after her. "There's an attachment going at the bughouse. I could put in a word for you."

"I'm a lizard girl, Tim." Abby protested. "You know that."

Tim's mobile began to ring and he turned to answer it, dropping the armload of papers he'd been carrying. "Oh sorry."

"Oh." Abby crouched to pick up the papers while Tim was on the phone, eyes widening when she noticed one of them in particular. It was a letter from a boy named BEN TRENT, who had apparently found a lizard and sent photos.

Tim finished the phone conversation and took the pile from her. "They're letters from people wanting the zoo to collect their animals. Why do people buy exotic pets it they don't want them?"

Abby held the letter from Ben in her hand, and smiled as she looked at the photos of the creature the boy had found.

"Is everything alright?" Tim asked.

"I'll handle this one if you like." Abby smiled brighter. "It's my field, and I know the Forest of Dean pretty well." She cleared her throat. "So, about this attachment."

"Yes." Tim nodded as they began to walk the way they'd come. "It's a six-month project studying the life cycle of parasites in elephant dung."

Abby sighed. "Sounds unmissable."

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In the Forest of Dean, Nick, Stephen and Connor walked up to a damaged truck with the eyewitness, a security guard wearing a reflective jacket.

"I'd just finished my rounds when I caught a glimpse of it on the monitor." The guard announced, motioning to the body of a red truck that had been slashed open, leaving great gashes in its sides.

"Can you imagine how much force it took to rip this thing open?" Connor announced in awe. "Look at the size of the marks. If you want my opinion, I think its..."

Stephen picked up a dead chicken, and Nick gave Connor an amused look.

Connor noticed. "You don't, do you?"

"Well," Stephen took in a deep breath. "If I found these gouges in the wild, I'd be certain we were looking for a large predator."

"But we're in the Forest of Dean." Nick reminded.

"It was huge and it was so fast." The guard remembered softly. "It was gone across the yard in a second."

Stephen approached the truck and looked at the red, liquid substance splashed across its side. "Well, there's blood."

Nick moved closer to the actual Forest. "Stephen. Come and give me a logical explanation for this."

Stephen looked up from the truck. "It's a hoax, obviously." He caught up with Nick and stopped when he too saw the the twisted metal fence at the edge of the trees. "Just, uh, a very difficult one to pull off."

"Can I say something?" Connor asked from behind them.

Nick moved closer to the fence, leaving Connor and Stephen behind.

Connor turned to Stephen, voice lowered. "Is he alright?"

"Helen Cutter came to this area eight years ago to investigate a creature sighting." Stephen announced, gaze solely on Nick. "She disappeared in this forest. The body was never found. Just a rucksack. No blood, no clues, nothing. She just _vanished_."

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"I see you like dinosaurs, Ben." Abby smiled as she noticed the theme of the little boy's room.

"Yeah." Ben laughed. "They're awesome."

Hearing chirping, Abby looked around and saw a lizard on Ben's bed.

"His name is Rex." Ben grinned. "I found him in the forest. Looked him up in a book and it said he was a flying lizard from Southeast Asia."

"Draco Volans." Abby murmured as she looked closely at Red, confusion visible on her face. "He's not a Draco Volans."

"No?" Ben asked, surprised.

Suddenly Rex jumped from the bed to a bedside cabinet, then to a chest of drawers, and then to a high shelf, knocking things over as he did so.

"In fact, I don't know what he is." Abby admitted, in awe.

"I thought you were an expect." Ben frowned.

"I am." Abby smiled. "And if I'm right, you've discovered a completely unique species."

"Oh _cool_." Ben grinned.

Abby turned to him. "I need you to show me exactly where you found him."

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_Cold, warmth, light, darkness, silence...roars_...

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Abby and Ben walked through the forest, the petite, pixie-ish blonde carrying Rex, the lizard happily wrapped in a purple blanket.

"It's too cold for him here." The girl decided. "He must have escaped from a private zoo or something."

"I found him around here somewhere." Ben announced. "This way." But then he saw something and stopped. "_Abby_?"

She turned to him, and noticed what he saw, her face going pale.

A dead cow had been lifted into the branches of a tree and left there.

The humans looked around nervously before turning around and rushing away as fast as they could, but Abby began to fall behind, knowing the forest much less than Ben did.

"Slow down. Wait for me!"

"Maybe it was a leopard." Ben was hurriedly saying to himself up front. "They sometimes drag their prey into trees and come back for it later."

"Don't be silly Ben. How many leopards are there in the Forest of Dean."

"I don't care. It's weird. I'm getting out of here."

"Ben, hold on!" Abby called after him as he gathered speed. "Wait for me!"

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At the bar in the Eddington Hotel situation by the Forest of Dean, Nick Cutter sat drinking a glass of water, trying to make sense of what they'd seen today. He pulled out his wallet and looked at the picture of Helen, wondering if this was just another hoax, or if this was similar to what had happened to his wife the day she'd disappeared so mysteriously all those years ago.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he looked up to see a pretty redhead.

"Excuse me." She announced before kissing him. "Don't panic." She whispered, pulling away slightly. "I just told that slime ball over there that you were my boyfriend. One more sleazy chat-up line and I was going to have to kill him."

"Well, I'm very glad I was here to help." Nick announced, putting away his wallet. "Uh, I'm Nick Cutter."

"Actually, I know who you are." She smiled. "I'm Claudia Brown, Home Office. I saw you at the Hotel and I'm hoping you can do me a favor, Professor."

"Another one?"

She smirked slightly at that. "I suspect this is why we're both here." She took out a white envelope from her bag and revealed the picture from the newspaper to be inside. "We get dozens of rogue animal sightings every year. You'd be doing me a great favor if you could just confirm all this is nonsense."

He sighed. "I can't dismiss the evidence out of hand."

She blinked. "Surely you're not giving this whole monster story credibility, Professor?"

He smiled easily. "I'm just trying to keep an open mind."

She made a face. "People always say that as though its a good thing."

His smile grew. "Well, you see, that depends on how you define _monster_. A wild panther might look pretty terrifying on a dark night."

"Is that what we're dealing with?" She frowned, going serious.

"My best guess, if it exists at all." Nick admitted. "The last sighting was somewhere near the forest. Would you care to join the search?"

She smiled. "I suppose I owe it to the taxpayer to do more than sit in my room and suck the mini bar dry."

Together they made their way outside, where Connor had his laptop open on the 4x4 and was in the process of showing Stephen his database.

"This database contains constantly updated information on all non-extinct vertebrates." He announced. "I've been building on it every spare second since I was 14."

"It's impressive." Stephen had to admit.

Connor grinned. "It's pretty cool, huh?"

"And slightly sad." Stephen added while nodding.

"You know we're not talking about a wild cat, don't you?"

Stephen looked at the younger man, silent.

Nick cleared his throat as he and his companion arrived. "This is Claudia Brown from the Home Office. She'll be coming with us."

"I knew it." Connor announced. "It's a cover-up."

"What's he talking about?" The redheaded female turned to Nick in confusion.

Nick grinned. "Connor never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like."

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Ben was still running through the forest, hardly noticing as Abby began to fall behind until they'd become separated. He was prey, and his instincts was telling him there was a predator around, that he needed to get to safety. He continued forwards, spurred by survival instinct, when suddenly something shiny caught his eye.

Coming to a stop, Ben looked up at a large shining sphere of throbbing, glittery light. The young boy walked up to it and stuck his head through, eyes widening as his gaze scanned the prehistoric landscape on the other side. There were some volcanoes erupting in the distance, and other creatures like Rex flying around.

In the distance, there was something shining, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Ben pulled his head back through the anomaly, amazed.

He was about to go back through when he heard a roar, finally remembering why he'd been running moments later.

Turning, he ran back into the trees. "ABBY!"

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"BEN?" Abby tried to find where the boy had gotten to, but was knocked off balance when Rex jumped out of her arms and began gliding around. She looked up at him in awe, and then followed the troublesome yet cute creature into an area of denser undergrowth when he landed. "Rex! Not now Rex. Please come back."

Rex moved further into the undergrowth, and refusing to give up, Abby bent down and began to climb down after him.

"Rex. Come here." She got deeper and deeper into the undergrowth. "Stop messing around."

Suddenly slow footsteps could be heard.

Rex chirruped nervously before going completely silent.

Abby looked around for the source of the footsteps.

A low growl could be heard, and then a monstrous creature's reflection appeared in a nearby stream.

Abby and Rex stayed very still until it moved away.

And then they looked at each other, both terrified.

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_Blink in, blink out, blink here, blink there._

_ Never stops._

_ So tired._

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Stephen, Claudia, Nick and Connor travelled through the forest, Stephen holding a map, Connor holding a compass.

"If there really were some sort of creature here, wouldn't the journalists have found it by now?" Claudia wanted to know, somehow making it through the forest well enough despite her high heeled boots.

"They wouldn't know what they were looking for." Nick countered.

"But you do?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmm. I've seen Stephen track wounded animals through the rainforest for up to 10 days at a time."

"Not to mention wrestle an anaconda and save a whale." Sensing his joke not appreciated, Connor moved forwards so that he was walking with Stephen, leaving Claudia and Nick behind.

"Maybe there is something here, maybe there isn't." Nick continued with his conversation. "Frankly, I doubt it."

"Cutter!" Stephen called from in front.

They turned, eyes widening as their gazes rested on a dead cow lying in a tree.

"Okay, _now_ I"m getting interested." Nick announced.

"Professor," Connor called. "The compass is going haywire."

Nick went to his student and gazed at the compass needle spinning around madly. "Curious and curiouser."

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Ben reached the edge of the forest, and was back at the estate where he lived. He climbed up a stile to get onto the estate, sighing with relief.

"_Ow_."

Looking down, he realized that he'd pricked his finger on a thorn.

Shaking it off he ran into his house and to his room, locking the bedroom door behind him.

The young boy dove onto a beanbag chair and studied his finger, realizing that it is bleeding. He must have bled over the stile.

Suddenly, Ben's window started to steam up in time to some growling from outside.

Ben turned his head to look and scrambled out of the way and onto his head just as a huge set of jaws smashed through his window.

The boy screamed as the creature grabbed his bed and shook it.

Scrambling back as far as he could, Ben started grabbing things and throwing them at it. He threw the remote control for his stereo at it, accidentally turning his stereo on, and the loud music confused the creature for a moment, allowing Ben to get off of his bed. The boy crawled out of the way and grabbed an electric ball, throwing it at the creature. The electric charge held in the glass globe was enough to sting the creature and it retreated.

Ben grabbed a lightsaber and slowly made his way towards his window, which had been completely destroyed.

But at least the creature, whatever it was, was gone.

He sagged in relief.

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Having finally reclaimed Rex was little victory now that it was dark and she realized she didn't know the Forest of Dean as well as she'd boasted to Tim earlier that morning.

"Okay Rex." She sighed. "Which way now?"

Stopping in a clearing she heard a growl behind her. The blonde gulped and turned around, seeing a different sort of creature behind her than she'd seen in the reflection, but that didn't make this creature any less intimidating.

Abby backed up as it turned towards her and roared.

Rex jumped out of her arms again as the creature repeated itself.

"Rex!" Abby cried out.

Suddenly three men and a redheaded woman appeared, coming up behind her.

"Don't move." A blonde haired man with a scottish accent whispered.

"Is it real?" She whispered back to him.

"Some sort of experiment, maybe. Hybid, throwback. Who are you?"

"Abby Maitland. I'm a keeper at Wellington Zoo. Who are _you_?"

"Nick Cutter." He whispered, approaching the creature slowly, shining his flashlight at it. "It's a reptile. Five or six tons at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oesteoderms on its back."

A tall, very manly looking man with dark hair and very light blue eyes, and a shorter, more geeky looking guy with dark hair and eyes, approached the creature as well.

"It must be some kind of anapsid." Nick decided.

"A tortoise?" Abby blinked in surprise.

The creature roared, causing everyone to back up.

"Stay in his field of vision," Abby advised. "You're making him nervous."

"I was right." The dorky guy took a picture of the creature with his camera. "It was a dinosaur in that warehouse."

The redheaded female snatched it from the dorky guy. "Whatever it is, it's classified until I figure out what the hell to do about it."

Rex appeared out from where he'd been hiding.

Nick shone his flashlight on him as the taller male with the blue eyes crouched down to get a better look at him. "Look at that, Stephen."

Stephen-the very manly one-shook his head. "Bloody hell, there's two of them."

Nick looked up at Abby. "Where did that come from?"

Which is why they'd gone to the Trent house, to find Ben Trent's room nearly destroyed, and the boy raving about a dinosaur attacking him.

Nick examined the damage done to the window before turning to the others. "There was no dinosaur. The simple truth is that Miss Maitland got carried away. Ben's pet was nothing more exotic than Draco Volans. Its a Southeast Asian flying lizard."

"There was a monster though." Ben insisted. "It chased us. Tell them Abby."

Abby couldn't look him in the eyes. "I really don't know what happened, Ben. We just got frightened, that's all."

"But I saw the past." Ben protested. "Prehistoric times. I was _there_!"

"You saw the past?" Nick's eyes narrowed.

"There was desert and rocks and things." Ben snapped before storming out of the room.

"I blame the telly." Mrs. Trent announced before hurrying out after him.

Claudia turned to Abby. "I know you feel bad about lying, but if word of this got out, who knows what the consequences might be." She looked between Abby and Nick. "You're both going to have to sign the Official Secrets Act."

"Whoa." Nick turned to Claudia. "When did this become an Official Secret?"

"About ten minutes after I finally persuaded my boss not to have me sectioned." She responded flatly.

"Yeah, well, right now we have a far more urgent problem." Nick decided. "That creature we saw may be many things, but it certainly isn't a ruthless predator that drags its prey up into trees."

"Well you can't be sure of that." Claudia countered.

"He can." Abby interrupted. "It's a herbivore. Pure veggie."

All the color drained for Claudia's face. "You mean there's another one out there?" "What did Ben mean when he talked about seeing the past?" Nick asked another question. "These animals have to be coming from somewhere."

"What are you saying?" Claudia narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm saying that the answer is in that forest." Nick replied. "And maybe Ben found it."

They made their way back to the forest, where Connor and Stephen were with the creature.

"You know, this is going to win me the Nobel Prize." Connor commented to Stephen from where he sat looking at the creature in awe.

"You don't even know what we're dealing with yet." Stephen reminded.

"Come on!" Connor chuckled. "It looks like a dinosaur. It behaves like a dinosaur. It's a dinosaur! It's the missing link to the ancient past and _I_ discovered it.

Suddenly the creature grew scared and started to walk away, Connor and Stephen scrambling out of its way.

"Where is it going?" Abby asked.

"Let him go!" Nick ordered. "It's scared. Let's see where it thinks is safe."

They followed the creature until it reached the shining, throbbing anomaly, and then went through it, disappearing.

Claudia's eyes were wide. "Where did it go?"

Nick smirked. "Home."

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_ Flicker In._

_ Flicker Out._

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The next morning the area around the anomaly had been secure by Claudia's backup. No one had gone home that night, everyone just watching the anomaly and unable to look away, trying to understand what it was and why it was there. Nothing made any sense anymore.

"My pen." Connor announced, watching as the pen that'd been clipped onto his shirt's pocket rip off and fly into the anomaly. "That explains the compass going crazy."

"What could cause a magnetic field so powerful?" Nick asked softly.

Connor blinked. "Maybe it's an alien spaceship."

Abby watched a soldier, under the supervision of Capt. Tom Ryan, take Rex away in a cage. "You don't think they'll hurt him?"

"Of course not." Stephen shook his head. "Everything we've seen about the animals so far is consistent with vertebrate that last appeared in the fossil record hundreds of millions of years ago."

Claudia frowned. "You mean they're like creatures from the past?"

"No." Nick shook his head. "I mean they _are_ creatures from the past."

Connor let something else fly through the anomaly with a giggle. "Brilliant. Just brilliant." He paused, remembering something. "Oh, that was my front door key." He grimaced. "_Crap_."

Capt. Ryan motion to Claudia.

The redhead noticed and nodded, turning to them. "Cutter, we have to go now."

"You've got your own experts." Nick frowned.

"They didn't see what we saw, and they don't know what you know." She walked off.

Stephen approached. "I'll stay here with Connor, whatever attacked that boy was _no_ veggie eater."

Nick nodded in silent agreement.

Stephen looked at him before sighing. "You're thinking about Helen, aren't you?"

"It explains everything." Nick whispered.

Stephen looked down at his feet. "Except why she didn't come back."

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_Is that...a voice?_

_ Flicker._

_ Flicker._

_ Blink out._

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At the Home Office they met James Lester, a short man with a Napoleon Complex, who would be in charge of co-ordinating the operation.

"This _phenomenon_, Professor." Lester turned to Nick. "Claudia tells me you have an explanation."

"A theory." The blonde corrected. "The boy's experience proves that there's a concrete landscape on the other side of the anomaly. And I think its the Earth many millions of years ago."

"And this, _anomaly_, as you call it." Lester cleared his throat. "Is a door between time zones in the world's history?"

Nick nodded.

Folding his hands behind his back, Lester raised an eyebrow. "Suppose this remarkable theory is correct, what are the immediate risks?"

"Famine, war, pestilence." Nick counted off. "The end of the world as we know it. You know, the usual."

"I think I could do without the facetiousness." Lester murmured.

"Well, _I_ could do without standing in some anemic office in Whitehall, talking to a civil service pen pusher, when I should be exploring the most significant phenomenon in the history of science."

"Technically, I'm not actually a civil servant. " Lester interrupted. "More like a troubleshooter without a portfolio in the PM's office."

"You mean you're a Government hatchet man." Nick reworded.

"Colorful, but surprisingly accurate." Lester nodded.

"And there's something else you should know." Nick stood up. "I intend to find out what happened to my wife, whatever the risks, so I'm going through the anomaly and if you want to stop me you're going to have to shoot me."

"I would hope it won't come to that." Lester announced, picking up a file with a picture of Rex on it. "The lizard's DNA confirms your theory. It's a living fossil. Under the circumstances I'm going to allow your exploratory mission into the anomaly."

"I'm taking back the lizard." Nick's voice left no place for argument. "Creatures that don't belong here should be returned to their natural habitat."

Lester nodded and pushed a piece of paper over the table towards Nick. "It's a disclaimer. We won't want any nasty lawsuits if you don't come back."

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Sitting on a log, Connor kept his laptop on his knees while Stephen crouched next to the footprint they'd found.

"Okay. My best guess?" Connor looked up. "The creature we found was some kind of scutosaurus, late Permian era. That footprint? Definitely not the same animal. If we are talking late Permian, then this little charmer is the prime suspect."

Stephen stood and went to crouch next to Connor, who showed him the page of his database that he had brought up.

"It's a gorgonopsid." Connor announced. "It's a compact killing machine, and it's got incredible power. Stephen. If it's still out there, then you have to find it. Fast."

"What about you?" Stephen raised an eyebrow.

"You, mighty hunter. Me, I'm more logistic and, you know, backup." He patted Stephen's shoulder. "Go get 'em, boy."

Snorting, Stephen shook his head in amusement at Connor, before turning and following the footprints away.

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Everyone but Stephen and Lester were at the anomaly site. It was raining, and several tents had been set up. Connor was on the phone, while Nick was being checked over by a medical person.

"Will you call Stephen again?" Nick turned to Connor, ignoring the man checking him over.

"He's not answering." Connor replied.

Claudia appeared at Connor's side, eyes only on Nick. "It's 18:55. I want you back no later the 20:00 hours. If the first contact works out, we'll go from there."

The group were approached by Captain Ryan, who was wearing full gear and carrying a large gun.

"What's he doing here?" Nick asked Claudia, ignoring Captain Ryan.

"This is Captain Ryan." The redhead motioned to the tall blonde man. "He's a Gulf war veteran with extensive desert experience. We don't know how dangerous it will be on the other side of the anomaly." She raised her hand to cut him off when he started to speak. "No arguments, Cutter. He goes as well."

Nick sighed and turned to Ryan, shaking his hand as Abby approached with Rex. She handed him over to Nick as Claudia and Ryan moved away.

"Please take care of him." Abby whispered. "And look after yourself too."

"Yeah." Nick nodded, cradling Rex. "We'll be fine."

Claudia turned to Ryan while the others spoke. "Whatever happens, bring him back."

Ryan moved away from Claudia, and he and Nick walked towards the anomaly. Ryan accepted a canvas bag from one of his men. Nick glanced back, and then after a shared nod they stepped through the anomaly.

Claudia, Abby and Connor watch in silence.

Connor grabbed a note pad out of his pocket, dropping his pen.

It fell to the floor rather than being attracted to the anomaly.

"My pen." Connor whispered, bending down to pick it up. "The magnetic field didn't take it." He stood, eyes on the shimmering light. "The anomaly is getting weaker."

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_Jerk._

_ Throb._

_ Pain._

_ Ben?_

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It was hot, boiling, full of black volcanic rock, and a few trees and bits of scrub bush.

Nick released Rex, and Ryan dumped most of his gear, sorting through it while Nick stared around in amazement.

"Give me an hour." Nick turned to his companion. "One hour on my own."

Ryan looked up, unsure.

"I've got a radio." Nick reasoned, raising said microphone.

That didn't seem to quite please Ryan, but he let him go.

Nick walked to the top of the hill, gazing at the impressive view below, unable to believe he was truly seeing this.

Rex flew past, and down below a family of scutosarus' stood happily.

"Helen!"

Nothing.

No answer.

"Professor!"

Nick turned at the voice, noticing Ryan a little way away, waving at him.

He wanted to ignore the man and continue with his search, but there was an urgency to Captain Ryan's movement, and as a scientist Nick was naturally curious.

"Professor! Over here!"

Walking down the hill, Nick frowned as he came to where Ryan was waiting on him, standing amidst what he'd found.

It was a ruined campsite.

"My god." Nick whispered, crouching down by a metal tin and opening it.

Inside there were food and medical supplies.

"People." He picked up a Yorkie bar. "Somebody's been here before us."

"Well, whoever it was, they didn't get far." Ryan announced. "Over here." He motioned a little further, leading the scientist to the other side of the camp, showing him a skeleton. Nick crouched down by it.

Ryan spotted something and unearthed a camera, in its case, from the ground. The leather camera case had the initials HC on it.

"It's HC." Nick whispered. "Helen Cutter."

They stood, shock visible on Nick's face.

"Is it her?" Ryan asked, sending a look towards the skeleton.

Nick crouched down again and appeared to count the skeleton's ribs. "No, it's a man."

"How did he die?"

_ "_I don't know, uh…"

"What's _that?"_

Nick stood, shielding his gaze against the glare as he looked in the direction being pointed.

There was a cave.

And something glowing inside.

"I don't know." Nick admitted, finding his feet going towards it. "Another anomaly?"

"Professor..." Ryan began, obviously not too sure about going towards the great unknown glow.

But Nick was way ahead of him, hurrying towards the cave.

What if it was a fire?

What if it was Helen?

She could be alive.

Waiting for him.

Hurrying inside, Nick stopped, eyes wide, unable to believe what he was seeing.

It wasn't Helen.

It wasn't a fire.

It was a girl, barely a woman.

And she was floating, apparently unconscious in the middle of what would seem to be an anomaly, and yet it was different from the one they'd traveled through.

Ryan stopped as he reached Nick's side. "What-?"

Nick walked towards the girl, cautiously, before outstretching his arms towards her.

As his arms reached for her the bright light disappeared in a flash, and the power keeping her floating vanished.

It was only his quick reflexes that kept her from dropping to the ground.

He might have hurt his back a little though.

"Professor!" Ryan turned on his flashlight and adjusted it to his gun, so he could both give light and protection. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes." Nick nodded, hefting the girl higher into his arms.

"Is it-?"

"No." Nick shook his head, looking down at the girl's face. "She's not Helen."

A beeping sound resonated through the cave. "It's time to go."

"I've got to find my wife." Nick shook his head. "I have to stay."

"I've been ordered not to leave you, professor." Captain Ryan announced calmly. "If you stay here, so will I-and so will the girl."

Nick looked down at the girl in his arms.

She'd obviously been trapped in here by an anomaly...like his wife might have been.

Could he ruin this child's only chance of freedom?

"Sorry, Professor."

Nick sighed, realizing he'd lost.

Hefting the girl's weight once more, Nick turned towards the exit.

Together, the scientist and the soldier slowly made their way back to the anomaly, slowed down by the weight of the unconscious girl.

As they neared the anomaly, they realized the light was dimmer...and shimmering erratically.

It was closing.

Sharing a look, the two blonde men hurried on, pushing themselves forwards, Nick and the unconscious girl darting through the anomaly first and then Captain Ryan, emerging on the other side, right before the anomaly disappeared.

"Cutter!" Connor announced.

"You're all okay!" Abby exclaimed.

"Who's that?" Claudia asked, the first to notice the blonde girl in Nick's arms.

Abby, hearing a chirruping noise, pulled away from the others, smiling when she noticed Rex in the trees. The blonde used the distraction to hurry to the lizard and when Rex flew into her arms happily, she pressed a kiss to his forehead and snuck away.

"Well done Ryan." Claudia smiled at the captain before turning to Nick. "Who is that? What did you see?"

The medic hurried forwards and Captain Ryan took the girl from Nick so that she could be examined.

Nick watched them go, concerned, speaking distractedly. "There was a camp, looked like a military one."

"Who is _she_?" Connor asked curiously.

"We don't know." Nick tore his gaze from her, returning it to the others. "She was hovering on an anomaly, unconscious."

Everyone's gazes widened and they turned to look at the girl.

Suddenly a roar sounded and everyone started running, military personnel towards the sound, and civilians away from it, as the gorgonopsid raced out of the trees towards them.

"Oh my God!" Connor exclaimed.

"Run!" Claudia cried.

There was gunfire.

"Moving target! Hold your fire!"

"Ryan!" Claudia yelled over the chaos. "Clear the area!"

A soldier screamed as the gorgonopsid tossed him before knocking over one of the floodlights.

The creature began running towards where the medic was cowering next to the unconscious girl.

Nick looked between the beast and the girl, terror welling in his chest.

Suddenly headlights and a car horn distracted the gorgonopsid as Stephen arrived in the 4x4, meeting the creature in a head on collision. The gorgonopsid went down, and the front of the 4x4 was severely dented, but Stephen stumbled out of the vehicle unharmed. The tall, dark haired man walked towards Nick, shaking his head slowly, missing the creature's eyes opening behind him.

"Catch!"

Stephen turned towards Claudia's voice and caught the discarded gun she'd tossed, turning and firing a shot right between the beast's forehead, killing it instantly. "Right." He dropped the gun, smiling at Nick, before his gaze went to the unconscious girl. "What did I miss?"

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They'd developed the film from the camera taken from the past.

The pictures inside had been of Helen.

She'd been there.

He'd been so _close_.

Looking down unseeingly at the papers on his desk, Nick tried to digest everything.

Some force out there had ripped the boundaries of space and time to _shred_s. Maybe it'd happened before, and if that had happened, then every single thing they'd thought they knew about the Universe was wrong. Or if this was the first time, what had changed? What happened next?

This was far from over.

He sighed, finally focusing on the papers in front of them.

They were of their mysterious blonde.

Once they'd gotten her to Home Office there'd been a vast amount of exams they'd put her through, and she seemed to be perfectly fine.

After they'd been sure she was fine, Claudia had investigated and discovered that their mystery girl was an American by the name of Chloe Sullivan, who disappeared two years ago in her apartment. Like Helen, her disappearance had been unexplained, no body ever found.

Nick began to wonder just how many of the people lost in this world hadn't been sucked into an anomaly.

He continued to read her file.

She'd been working her way up in the Metropolis Daily Planet, most of her articles had something to do with the weird, which made everything so ironic.

Another interesting thing was her blood type.

She had Bombay blood.

So did he.

And the only other person he'd ever known to have it as well was Helen.

Was it something about the Bombay blood that'd attracted the anomaly to her and Helen?

He ran his hand over his face before looking at the blonde with green eyes smiling at the camera in the picture in her folder.

His gaze then went to the picture of Helen on his desk.

What was the connection between their disappearances?

Females with Bombay blood?

Shaking his head, he placed the picture down on the desk and stood up, walking into a small lab at the side of his office. There was a noise by his desk, a shadow moving across the room.

Nick frowned, hurrying out of the lab. "Hello?"

Nothing.

Frowning he moved back to his desk, discovering Chloe's picture gone, and another picture on the desk instead, held down by a living ammonite.

Hearing footsteps running away from his office, Nick grabbed the picture and rapidly followed them, ending up on the walkway near to where he and Stephen had met Connor.

He froze.

Unable to believe his eyes.

In the distance, Helen stood under a streetlight, looking down at the picture of Chloe Sullivan.

"Helen?"

Helen looked up and began to move away.

"Helen!" Nick took hurried steps forwards. "Helen!"

He raced down the small hill towards her, but once he reached the streetlight she'd been standing under she was long gone.

"HELEN!"

Nothing.

He looked around him frantically, unable to understand what was happening.

And then he looked down at the picture for the first time.

And froze.

It was a picture of a tired yet satisfied looking Helen, holding a baby in her arms, while lying in a hospital bed.

Hands shaking, Nick flipped the photo over and felt his blood chill in his veins.

_**Helen and Chloe Cutter, September 14, 1987, Metropolis**_

_No_.

Rushing back to his office, Nick tore the papers from the desk and reread the information.

Chloe Sullivan, born September 14, 1987, Metropolis.

According to the records neither Moira nor Gabe Sullivan's blood type were hh, and since both parents had to have Bombay blood to pass it on to their children it'd been determined that whether she knew it or not, Chloe Sullivan had been adopted.

_Adopted._

Nick collapsed into his seat, eyes wide in horror.

**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval/Smallville.**

Wanna thank VERONICA, AONGEALACH, WEE-ME, VAMP1987, TUTSKAI, ISIS04 & THE ALTERNATIVE SOURCE for taking the time to review the previous chapter. Your reviews were greatly appreciated! :D

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Chloe hated her life.

She'd awoken two weeks ago in this Home Office place, to too many question and little to no answers.

The last thing she remembered was a bright light, and then waking up in the contained room in the Home Office, and while it'd seemed like seconds to her she'd been assured that two years had passed since then, which left her with the question of what exactly had happened to her during those two years. Had she been unconscious, floating in what they were calling this anomaly, or was it just the shock that was keeping her from remembering what had happened? And if she **had** been unconscious all this while, how had her body survived going so long without food and water?

Bringing her hands to her face, Chloe just wanted to go home.

But as James Lester, the head of Home Office, had pointed out somewhat cruelly-what sort of person would she be if she rocked her family's world once more? They'd already done their mourning and made their peace with her apparent death, and if she went back she'd be reopening wounds that would be only beginning to heal. So instead of calling her family, she'd googled them, and felt pathetic doing so.

Her father was retired, Lois was working at Chloe's old job of the Daily Planet, and Clark was saving the world while wearing **really** tight tights.

They'd all moved on.

And she let them.

It was better this way.

But there was one person she hadn't looked up, and to be truthful, it was because she didn't **want** to see how he'd gotten over her and moved on with his life.

It hurt like **hell** to think of him 'getting over' her.

Ben.

She couldn't take the high road and be happy for him if he'd fallen in love-or gotten married-so despite the fact that she typed in his name over and over and over again in the search engines...she never pressed enter, and always ended up just erasing his name.

Preferring not to know.

"The Forest of Dean is completely clear." Claudia Brown could be heard talking to Lester in the office above. "I've left Ryan in charge of mopping up. There's been a lot of internet chatter, but we've got natural disbelief on our side."

Chloe looked up and away from the computer they'd given her to be able to catch up with the world after she'd signed An Official Secrets Act and another that stated that she wouldn't use it to try and contact her family or loved ones.

"Eyewitnesses?" Lester wanted to know.

"A school teacher, but she's in shock and I'm positive we can keep her away from the papers. And the boy who found the dinosaur will be no problems, he's a child. They'll think it a product of his imagination or that he's lying."

"Pity the monster didn't eat them both. That would have been the neatest solution." A beat. "Joke."

Chloe snorted, shaking her head, and wondering just _how_ much of a joke that'd been.

"What about Cutter?" Lester wanted to know.

"What _about_ him?" Claudia asked.

Yeah.

What about Nick?

The scottish man was fairly odd, especially the way he looked at her sometimes, but Chloe felt the most comfortable with him and Stephen.

Nick, though a bit young, reminded her somewhat of her father.

It was comforting when she'd been stripped of everything familiar.

"I don't like anyone to whom the adjective 'maverick' might be applied." Lester answered Claudia's question. "Cutter virtually owns the _copyright_."

Chloe bit on her bottom lip, half amused, half agreeing.

"He may be a little unconventional in his methods, but he's the closest thing we've got to an expert." Claudia defended.

"You've taken to him, haven't you?"

"I trust him, if that's what you mean."

"Of course, what else?" Lester asked oddly. "Very well, keep him on side for the time being. I'd rather have him inside the proverbial tent than out."

Uninterested, Chloe stood, leaving the laptop on the chair, and made her way to one of the guards. "I'd like to go to the Central Metropolitan University."

"I'll go get clearance, madam." The guard nodded, leaving.

Chloe made a face as she watched him go, feeling like a prisoner.

The Home Office didn't trust her out and about by herself, so until they did she was forced to having to be accompanied by someone of the Home Office the few times she left the building. She'd tried escaping by herself a couple of times, but after being caught so ridiculously quickly she'd finally given up and given into the demands. The guard came back with the clearance for her to leave the building, and they were off, him driving, her staring out of the window at England.

She didn't know why they were so worried about her running away.

Where exactly did she have to go to?

And how could she explain to the government how she'd gotten into the country in the first place?

The blonde sighed and rested her forehead against the window.

"Are you okay, madam?" Her driver enquired politely.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." She nodded, giving him a weak smile and returning her gaze out of the window, the drive silent until they reached the university.

The blonde and her guardian in civvies walked towards Nick's office, and when she entered he was sitting at his desk, going through some papers, and biting on an apple.

"Hope I'm not interrupting."

He looked up and dropped his apple, scrambling to his feet. "Chloe!"

Amused by his reaction, she grinned. "Deep in thought much?"

He smiled. "I was going through some of Helen's papers. Please." He moved some papers off of a chair.

Chloe nodded a thanks and sat down as he sat down on his seat once more, her guardian waiting on the other side of the closed door. "You're very dedicated to your wife, Mr. Cutter, I admire that."

"Nick, please." For some reason he looked pained. "And it's my fault she disappeared so..."

"Why would you think that?" She asked, confused.

"I was supposed to go with her on that last field trip, but we had a row." He sighed. "Another row. She'd become obsessed with theories that I found, well, ridiculous."

Chloe leaned forwards in her seat. "You mean she was onto the anomaly?"

"No, not as such, but she'd become convinced that there was no conventional scientific answers to certain evolutionary puzzles." Nick admitted. "And, well, obviously she was right."

"Nobody could have guessed that." She tried consoling him.

"Yes, but she did."

There was silence.

"She could still be alive, you know." Chloe felt like saying. "I mean, I was gone for two years and here I am. You found me." She smiled slightly at him. "You can find her too. I know you can."

For some reason Nick looked terribly touched, ducking his gaze. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled, leaning back in her chair, feeling better now that she'd lifted his mood somewhat.

"Can you...really...not remember any of those two years?" Nick asked her oddly. "Nothing at all?"

Chloe made a face, running her hand through her blonde locks. "Sometimes, at night, right before I fall asleep, I remember light, and noises. Sometimes. But remember remember? No." She looked up at him. "Do you think the humans who get sucked into the anomaly go into shock like I did? That Helen's in some kind of coma?"

Nick's gaze lowered. "Chloe. Tell me something."

Sensing the underlying importance in his voice, she leaned forwards. "Sure."

"Do you believe that these anomalies can be...I don't know...what if you were born in the wrong timeline?"

She blinked, confused. "Excuse me?"

"What if your mother was pregnant when she was in the anomaly, just as an example, and went back in time to a time before she even met your father, and gave birth and left you there?" He picked at papers. "Would you believe that possible?"

"You'd be surprised to find out what I'm willing to believe possible." She replied with a snort, thinking back to her teenaged years with the meteor freaks. "What was the purpose of that question?"

"Curious."

"Oh." She was a little disappointed.

She'd thought it had been important.

Maybe she just couldn't read people the way she used to anymore.

"So, tell me, what's the plan at the Home Office?"

"From what I've been hearing?" She made a face. "A cover up."

Nick shook his head. "Connor will be thrilled."

She smiled at the mention of the geeky-cute Connor.

The door opened, and Stephen stepped in. "I just got a text from Abby. Connor thinks he's onto another anomaly. They've gone to investigate."

"Where are they?" Nick asked, standing.

"New Forest." Stephen responded. "She's not exactly sure where."

Chloe stood. "Let's go then."

Nick turned to her, eyes narrowed. "You're not coming. It's too dangerous. You're going back to the Home Office and-."

"Nick, not only _aren't_ you my father, but I'm an adult, and I can go wherever I want to as long as I'm in the presence of someone from the Home Office." Chloe placed her hands on her hips, wondering why Nick had winced so violently. "Now, stop wasting time. I'm going."

In the end, it ended up being a hoax.

And a waste of time.

And, of course, a breech of the Official Secrets Act.

Apparently Connor had gone blabbing everything to his college friends, and they'd not only not believed him, but had followed him and Abby and played a trick on them using a dinosaur model one might find on a float in a parade. Chloe stood disappointed next to Stephen, who was looking at the dinosaur model while Nick talked to the police, and Abby and Connor stood by the river looking apprehensive.

"You look disappointed." Stephen noted, standing back up.

"I am." Chloe admitted. "I might have been stuck in the prehistoric days for two years, but I don't remember any of it. I feel cheated. This would have been my first dinosaur."

He smirked, apparently amused by her petulant disappointment.

"Take care and make sure that it doesn't happen again." The police officer announced, turning and rejoining his colleague in the car.

Nick nodded and turned, approaching Connor and Abby.

Chloe and Stephen exchanged glances, heading towards them as well.

"Look, I know what you're going to say." Connor began, eyes on Nick.

"We're sorry." Abby cut in.

"The police aren't going to prosecute you for trespassing." Nick announced, face serious and displeased. "Supposing it had been a predator, what were you going to do? Tame it?" His eyes narrowed and turning on Connor. "You knew exactly what was what stake but you just couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"It's just so big." Connor pleaded for understanding. "I had to tell somebody. I'm sorry. I _am_. I blew it."

"Go back to college." Nick announced, Connor's face falling at those words. "Get on with your work. I'll find you another supervisor."

"I'm just as much to blame as he is." Abby pleaded for her friend.

"Just as stupid, maybe." Nick snapped. "But you didn't shout your mouth off and you've still got skills I can use. You stay."

Chloe blinked.

That was still kinda harsh.

Nick and Stephen turn to leave, Abby sending Connor an apologetic look before hurrying after them.

Connor turned away, but not before Chloe caught sight of his expression.

He looked like he was about to cry.

She sent a quick look in Nick's direction before going to Connor and hugging him despite the fact that she really didn't know him.

But she knew the feeling of having what she loved and wanted ripped away from her because of a thoughtless action of her own.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and let go before he could react.

And then she hurried back to where the others were waiting on her.

"You were too harsh on him." She scolded Nick as she got into the back seat along with Abby. "He's a kid."

"He's a year older than you." Nick replied tersely from in front as he started his car. "Don't baby him. He's an adult and knew what he was doing when he violated the Official Secrets Act. He's lucky he's not getting arrested for it."

Fortunately, Claudia called Nick before it could break out into a loud argument.

Apparently an underground worker had been attacker earlier, and was now very ill in the hospital.

That wasn't usually their jurisdiction, but the man was blabbering about monsters.

At the hospital they'd seen the man and talked to the doctor tending to him. Apparently the worker had been spraying the tunnels for vermin, and judging from the size of the wound, he'd been attacked with a knife or an axe, but it made no sense to the doctor, since the wound wasn't killing him...but poison. Apparently the man's body was filled with venom, venom the doctor admitted to not being able to recognize, despite all the tests being run on the patient.

After a look at the wound, Nick had deducted that it was more like a single puncture mark, but not one made by a knife or an axe. No. According to Nick it looked more like a _bite_, and when Chloe had gotten a good look at it, she'd realized that he was right.

Something _big_ had bitten this man and injected him with venom.

Despite this, it was hard to convince Lester to close the Underground, the short man insisting that it was impossible to do so on a 'wild hunch'. But in the end Nick and Claudia had ganged up on the man, and Chloe had to admit they made a great team, with Lester finally agreeing to shut down the part of the underground the attack had taken place in. And with that the team had headed towards the station, calling for backup at the same time. Chloe had to admit that it was the rush and worry that kept Nick from realizing she was with them and protesting it. But if she was going to be the prisoner...guest...of the Home Office she was going to do _something_ useful.

Anyway, she had years of dealing with the weird and unexplained while in Smallville. She could prove helpful in _some way_, right?

Maybe she should talk to Lester about this once they got back to the Home Office.

If she was working for them, Lester wouldn't be so worried about her trying to escape.

This could work.

They arrived at the station, where Captain Tom Ryan and a load of soldiers were already there, rushing around making preparations. They took guns out of cars and set up perimeters and such, and Chloe felt a silly rush as she was allowed to enter the perimeter. Before, as a teenager and as a young reporter at the Daily Planet, she'd been forced to sneak around and be all stealthy, and yet now the soldiers were ushering her and the team forwards.

She kinda liked the difference.

"Get them out." One of the soldiers announced. "Right, follow me."

"Come on, come on, come one!" Another soldier yelled.

"All passengers, please vacate the station." One of the soldiers commanded through the station's intercom.

Rapidly the passengers left as the soldiers entered.

"We should be down there with them." Nick complained to Claudia.

"Special Forces go in first." She shook her head. "You didn't think Lester was going to let you have it all your own way?"

"They don't even know what they're looking for." Nick narrowed his eyes at the redhead.

"Well," Stephen rested his elbow on Chloe's shoulder. "There can't be that many different types of venomous predators under the Aldwych."

Claudia snorted. "You should see the last tube home on a Friday night."

Abby and Chloe exchanged amused looks.

"_Moving in." _They could hear through the radio.

"_Push forwards, cover the exit_." Captain Ryan's voice was easily distinguished.

"_Pull tight!"_

_ "Keep it tight!"_

_ "Close in!_"

Chloe looked up at Stephen and they shared a look.

Apparently the soldiers had found something.

"_Above! Above!_"

"_Get off!"_

"_What are they?"_

_ "They're everywhere!"_

"_Hold your fire_!" Ryan could be heard commanding too later, as the sound of firing and ricochetting could be heard clearly.

"Oh my god." Abby whispered, stepping closer to the radio.

"_Withdraw_." They finally heard Ryan command. "_Withdraw_!"

The soldiers finally appeared, all filing out, injured to different degrees, the medics examining them.

Nick stood over one of the soldiers, whom had a puncture wound on his neck, identical to the one the man in the hospital had.

"They were like spiders," Ryan announced from where he was sitting, being treated to. "But with pincers, not fangs. Some of them were over a meter long. Horrible little..."

"Look, tell me how you feel." Nick interrupted.

"Sick." The handsome blonde captain wasn't embarrassed to admit. "My ears are ringing."

"Any blurred vision?" Nick enquired.

"No." Captain Ryan shook his head. "But there's something else. The gunshots were too bright, like fireworks."

"That's classic signs of excess oxygen in the atmosphere." Stephen announced.

They left Ryan to prepare his men, Nick gathering them together.

"A richer, more heavily oxygenated air must be seeping through another anomaly." The scientist announced. "We're not talking about the Permian era any longer. This is much, much earlier."

"How much earlier?" Chloe asked.

"Maybe the Carboniferous about 300 million years ago." Nick responded automatically. "We _really_ need to see exactly what these creatures look like." He took in a deep breath. "_I_ need to see this for myself."

"Okay, go." Claudia nodded.

Nick turned to Stephen. "Let's get some gear."

Chloe watched as Abby, Stephen and Nick went to get suited up, and she couldn't help but feel left out.

That feeling continued as she watched them lacing up their boots a little later, preparing to enter.

Ryan walked up to them and offered Nick a gun.

"Ah. No, we need flashlights." Nick declined the offer. "The most powerful you can find."

"Take night vision goggles." Ryan announced.

"Vision isn't the issue." Stephen replied cryptically.

Claudia sighed and flipped her phone closed. "The pest controller died a few minutes ago. They're running tests on our casualty now."

The trio shared a look before heading towards the underground, armed only with flashlights.

Chloe and Claudia sighed in worry, listening intently to the radio as the trio disappeared from sight.

For a couple of minutes there was nothing.

And then.

"_Shine your lights on the ground_." Nick could be heard saying. "_That's what I thought, they're sensitive to the light."_

"_Oh!_" Abby exclaimed. "_Does anyone have a really big slipper?"_

Chloe smirked at that one.

"_I don't like this." _Nick announced, wiping the smirk from Chloe's face.

"_Cutter_." Abby's voice was odd.

"_What's_ _happening to us_?" Nick asked.

"_Guys?"_ Abby cleared her throat. "_What is __**that**__?"_

_ "I don't know_." Stephen could finally be heard saying.

"_It's not a spider."_ Nick responded slowly.

Claudia's face morphed with intense worry. "Cutter? What's going on?"

"_There's another creature down here."_ Nick responded. "_But don't worry, we're coming out."_

Some loud sound echoed inside.

_ "Stephen, Stephen can you see it?"_

"_No!_"

There was a strange sound.

"_Stephen_!" Abby screamed.

"_Nick_!" Stephen yelled.

"What's going on down there?" Chloe whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"_Go, go!"_ Nick could be heard yelling. "_Get Abby out of here_!"

"_Come on_!" Stephen stressed.

"_No!_" Abby cried.

"_Damn_." Nick whispered.

And then everything became static.

"Cutter? _Cutter!_" Claudia called into the radio. "Answer dammit! _Cutter_!"

There was nothing but static.

It was still the same when Stephen and Abby made it out, heading towards them.

"We can't get in contact with Nick." Chloe hurriedly told them.

"_What_?" Stephen's eyes narrowed.

Claudia spread out a map to show them. "There's no other way out. This tunnel was blocked 30 years ago."

"_What_?" Abby gasped. "They why isn't he back here?"

"Look, he's got to be trapped, okay?" Stephen looked back in the direction they'd just come from. "I'm going back in."

"No-one goes anywhere until we know what we're dealing with." Claudia narrowed her eyes at him.

"He could be injured." Stephen snapped.

"I don't want to leave him down there anymore than you do, but I'm not losing anyone else in this wild goose chase." Claudia replied, surprisingly calm despite the circumstance. "We don't even know for sure where he is." She looked between Abby and Stephen. "Did you see what kind of creature it was?"

"Some kind of centipede." The tall, dark haired man replied.

"But it was _huge_!" Abby put in.

"Anything else?" Claudia didn't seem impressed. "Preferred habitat? Behavioral patterns? Strengths? Weaknesses?"

"We don't know. No one does!" Abby snapped.

"Connor might." Stephen reminded them. "He's like a walking encyclopedia of this stuff. He probably has giant bug fridge magnets."

"Okay, I'll get him here." Claudia announced, handing him the map as she walked away. "Ryan! We need to get Connor!"

Ryan turned to Chloe and Abby. "I can't leave him in there."

"You can't go down there without back up." Abby whispered back.

"Watch me." Stephen replied, eyes narrowed.

"_Stephen_." Chloe grabbed his arm, stopping his movement, only to shove a flashlight into his hand. "Be careful and keep constant radio contact." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't make me have to go down to get you. I _hate_ bugs."

He looked down at her and smiled before nodding and hurrying back the way he came.

Unable to take the waiting, Chloe managed to leave the closed off area without any of the Home Office personnel noticing, and took a walk, trying to breathe in and out. She hoped to all holy that when she returned both Nick and Stephen were going to be back safe and sound, and that the anomaly that'd opened up and let those creatures into their timeline had closed up for good, with the bugs back where they belonged.

When she couldn't take it any longer, she returned to where the others were.

"Connor!" Chloe smiled, hurrying towards the young man who was already there, tapping furiously into his computer, looking up possible creatures with Claudia and Abby looking over his shoulders.

He looked up at her and smiled before looking down at his computer. "Okay, Carboniferous. So it's probably an Arthropleurid. That's a centipede on steroids, basically. It's more or less blind, good sense of smell and touch. I mean, this thing's pretty big and scary looking, but it's more or less timid. It's the kind of bug that'd stick to the kitchen at parties."

"This one must have a personality disorder." Claudia muttered. "How dangerous is it?"

"According to this, it would have eaten dead wood and leaves."

"So it's not poisonous." Chloe felt the need for clarification.

"No way." Connor shook his head.

"That's a good thing then." Abby replied.

Suddenly soldiers arrived with Nick and Stephen, Stephen barely conscious.

"Medic!" A soldier called out. "Stretcher!"

They loaded Stephen onto a stretcher and the paramedics took over.

"We've got it."

"_Stephen_!" Chloe hurried over to where he was, eyes widening when someone pulled Stephen's collar back to expose an ugly bite wound in his neck.

"He's been bitten by the Arthropleurid." Nick announced gravely. "Same wound, same symptoms as the pest controller. We need to do something before it destroys his central nervous system."

"Poison?" Connor asked, confused.

"The spiders are off the hook." Nick nodded. "It's the centipede that's the killer."

"Not poisonous you said." Claudia glared at Connor.

The young male winced. "Look, I was only speculating."

"Tell them about Helen." Stephen reached for Nick but his hand collapsed back onto the stretcher. "She was there."

Chloe looked up at Nick in time to see the odd look he sent her.

"What's he talking about?" Claudia demanded.

"I don't know." Nick was staring straight into Claudia's eyes as he said this, and yet there was something that made Chloe doubt the truth in those words. "He must be hallucinating, delirious."

Claudia watched as Stephen was rolled towards the ambulance, the paramedics pausing to open the doors. "He looked seemed fairly lucid to me."

Chloe, uninterested, hurried towards Stephen's side, glaring down at him. "I thought I told you to take care of yourself!"

"You know," he looked up at her "You're really beautiful."

"Nick's right." She snorted. "You _are _delirious."

"Have dinner with me."

Chloe shook her head at the feverish, glassy-eyed injured man in front of her. "Who I am to turn down not only a night away from the Home Office, but free food?"

He chuckled but it turned into a painful sounding cough as they loaded him into the ambulance.

Chloe looked around her quickly, wondering where the intense sense of being watched was coming from, before climbing up into the ambulance and holding the hand of the man she was quickly considering a friend all the way to the hospital, where he was wheeled in by a team of nurses, wearing a breathing mask. Chloe was close behind, knowing she was going to be in more trouble when poor Captain Ryan realized she was missing again, but she didn't care, meeting up with Dr. Lewis, the doctor they'd met with that morning.

"Who did this to him?" The doctor asked, eyes wide as she recognized the same wound and symptoms as on the man who'd recently died.

"Not who, what." Chloe replied, watching Stephen with worry as he deteriorated before her eyes. "It was a centipede."

"What kind of centipede?" Dr. Lewis pressed.

Chloe opted for the truth. "I didn't exactly see it myself."

"You're going to have to find that centipede, because if we don't know exactly what bit him, he will _die_."

Chloe took in a deep breath, nodding. "Okay. Tell me what you need to find a cure and I'll get you all the information I can."

"There are no obvious treatments." Dr. Lewis admitted. "People just don't die of centipede bites. But if we can get hold of a good sample of the venom, we might be able to find an anti-venom that matches it."

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Will that make him better?"

"Anti-venoms are a last resort." Dr. Lewis tried to make her understand. "Toxic in their own right. The survival rate can be as low as 50%, but without it, his chances are nil."

Chloe nodded. "Just keep him alive."

Thankfully she was able to use the phone of one of the soldiers who'd accompanied the ambulance as protection, and called Nick, letting him know what was going on and what the doctor had said. Nick had the phone on speaker, so she could hear the others as they spoke.

"Can't they just run some more tests and find a match for the venom somehow?" Claudia wanted to know.

"It would take too long." Chloe shook her head as she paced the hall outside Stephen's room, restless. "He's dying."

"The only way to shortcut the process is to collect a pure sample of venom from the creature that bit him." Nick took in a deep breath. "But how the hell are we going to do that? Ask it to fill a specimen jar?"

Chloe cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah, in a way. But it'll be risky. _Very_ risky."

There was silence.

"_How_ risky?" Claudia wanted to know.

"Doesn't matter. Stephen wouldn't have gotten hurt if he hadn't come back to help me." Nick's voice was gruff. "What's your idea?"

"You've got to find that centipede before it crosses back over through the anomaly and you lose it, killing Stephen in the process. So tell the soldiers driving the bugs back through the anomaly not to let the centipede through." Chloe announced, looking through the window at Stephen as he struggled to breathe. "And Nick? You're going to invite a very angry centipede to bite you."

"Mind repeating that last part?" Connor stammered.

"I get it. Genius." Nick chuckled. "Good girl."

And with that the call was over.

She'd stayed there by Stephen's side, worried as hell, watching the doctors tried to help him despite his many seizures and the havoc the venom was wracking in him.

When the doors had flown open and Nick had appeared, holding a container with a bite mark on the cover, and filled with clear liquid, she'd shared a relieved smile with him as the doctors took the venom.

The others left, having to continue dealing with the spiders and the anomaly, but Chloe remained behind, watching as the doctors finally injected the anti-venom into Stephen.

It was all up to him from now.

She was allowed to stay in his room now, sitting on a chair.

The blonde didn't know how long she was there, but when she woke up, Stephen was awake, tired and weak, but obviously going to be alright.

"Hey." Chloe whispered, wiping at her eyes and yawning. "You're alright."

He nodded, the world outside the window dark. "I hate bugs now too."

She laughed, reaching forwards and placing her hand on his.

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Nick sat in front of the anomaly, thankful to Chloe for the phone call heralding Stephen's recovery, but still unable to savor the victory.

Not after what had happened.

Helen had been there, through the anomaly, and she'd told him that if he wanted the truth, he would have to go through it to find her.

He gazed at the anomaly.

Connor cleared his throat, announcing his presence. "Hi. Uhm. Does this mean I'm back in?"

"Any way we can keep you out?" Nick asked curiously.

"I just want to help." And it was obviously genuine.

"You did a good job." Nick smiled slightly at him.

Connor grinned. "All my life I've wanted to be in a crime-busting gang. And now I am. Sort of." He turned to look at the anomaly. "I don't suppose you would consider giving me a cool nickname, would you?"

"No."

"Oh well." Connor didn't sound too heart broken. "I thought not."

Nick smiled a little more, always amused when it came to Connor.

"Chloe, she's quite cunning, huh?" Connor turned to Nick. "That was quick thinking of hers, about milking the giant prehistoric centipede."

"Yeah, it was." He felt something close to fatherly pride.

"I heard Claudia talking to Lester on the phone." Connor nodded. "I'm thinking they're going to offer her a place on the team. She's nice. I hope she accepts." And with that he left.

Nick's smile melted off of his face into a worried frown.

He didn't like the thought of Chloe being a part of the team, especially...especially since he was almost sure she was the daughter he hadn't known he'd had-the daughter Helen had somehow misplaced in time. But he really wouldn't be able to have a say in her joining the team or not. She was an adult...and she didn't know the things he did.

Getting up, Nick walked towards the anomaly and stopped just short of entering it, shaking his head.

"Where are you Helen?" He narrowed his eyes. "And what do you _want_?"

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**Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval/Smallville.**

Chapter 3/6

Wanna thank Tanschana, Veronica, AonGealach, vamp1987, The Alternative Source & wee-me for reviewing the previous chapter.

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She was on her old Facebook account, browsing through the pictures.

And saving them.

Taking in a deep breath she finally clicked on one of the albums she'd been avoiding since logging on...and a picture of her and Ben was the first thing she saw. She remembered when Lois had taken the picture without her or Ben noticing. They'd just been engrossed in each other, talking and laughing, their hands locked in a tight yet comfortable hold. The blonde brought a hand to her face and took in a deep breath before continuing looking at the pictures, and saving them to the hard drive of the laptop Nick had helped her pick out for herself. There were pictures of Ben backing her around on his back, pretending to be about to fall from her weight while she was red-faced and laughing-there were pictures of her pressed back against the wall with Ben pressed up against her, kissing her to an inch of her life, her hands in his hair and his hands gripping her hips. There were so many pictures of her and Ben, so many in that little amount of time...two years ago.

Chloe covered her face with both hands, breathing shakily, trying to keep composed.

She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry.

But as she pulled her hands from her face and gazed upon the memories of better days her heart was being squeezed. It was all just so _painful_.

_Ben_.

She traced the outlines of his face on the screen.

_What are you doing now_?

She closed eyes.

_Do you ever wonder what happened to me?_

She stood up and wiped at her misty eyes, taking in a deep breath and closing the lid on the computer, unable to look at it anymore.

Not for right now at least.

She needed to focus.

On her job.

_Job_.

Thank god for her job.

It'd given her new focus.

And a valid excuse to avoid the memories and questions.

Work.

Right.

Now that Stephen had been let out of the hospital, she needed to concentrate on the anomaly that the creature that'd hurt him had come from. This anomaly was interesting because the first one, the first one the team had found-the one they'd found her _in_-had closed, but according to Connor, who was constantly checking up on this new anomaly, the magnetic field had remained consisted at five tesla with no sign of deterioration.

That had to mean something.

Right?

If only Stephen could remember what had happened after he'd gotten attacked by that centipede on steroids.

Chloe had a feeling Nick was hiding something from them, something Stephen would have remembered and told them.

But why would Nick keep something from them?

The blonde Scot was always very nice to Chloe, though odd, and she was a little worried about how obsessive he'd grown with the anomalies. At least it was serving them well. They now were beginning to believe that the anomalies could be intermittent, and that while they faded from time to time they never completely disappeared. And that gave way to so many different possibilities. Like the dragons of the past...could have been just dinosaurs that'd gone through an anomaly and come upon the people there. Of course the people of that time would have attributed them to some sort of mythical creature. It made such scary sense.

The anomalies were conclusive proof that the past existed in a fourth dimension as real and solid as those they already knew, and it was their job to predict and contain them.

How fascinating and utterly _terrifying_ was that?

Her mobile rung.

Chloe cleared her throat and wiped her eyes before answering. "Sullivan."

"We got another. " Stephen's voice proclaimed in her ear. "Be by the parking lot in two minutes."

He hung up.

She snorted, shaking her head and wiping more fiercely at her eyes.

The blonde got up and grabbed her things, hurrying down to where everyone were waiting on her. The smile she gave her colleagues was a genuine one as she gave Connor a playful push so he could scoot over. They drove over to some indoor pool place, and heard the story about the aquatic monster the survivor claimed killed her boyfriend.

"With all the chlorine in the pool I'm surprised the creature came through." Connor confessed to Chloe as Stephen, in a wet suit, scanned the pool, which was now creature and anomaly free. "To a reptile it would have been like swimming in a bucket of acid."

"Really?" Chloe asked as she sat on the edge of the pool, shoes off, dangling her feet in said water. "It's nice to me."

Stephen surfaced, pulling off his goggles and mouthpiece, sighing. "There's definitely no anomaly anymore. No creature either." He ran his hand over his wet hair. "It probably sensed the danger presented by the chemicals in the water and got out fast before the anomaly closed.

They'd thought it was over.

But then a couple of hours later they were in Lester's office.

In a reservoir 20 miles down, filled with people swimming, walking along the waterfront, sailing, canoeing, a large lump of meat had floated to the surface in front of a set of canoeists.

There were two very important details.

One was that there wasn't anything in the reservoir that should have left the half-eaten meat.

Two was that the DNA exam they'd done of the remains proved conclusive. It was what was left of the man who'd been killed at the pool.

"It's a bolus." Nick explained. "A regurgitated mass of flesh and bone. The beast swallowed him whole and then vomited up what it couldn't digest."

"And what kind of creature could have done this to him?" Lester wanted to know, folding his arms over his chest.

"How is that the first question that came to your mind?" Chloe snorted, leaning back in her chair.

Lester turned an unimpressed look in her direction. "And according to you, Miss Sullivan, what _should_ be the first question to cross my mind?"

She shook her head.

This should be obvious.

"What you _should_ be asking yourself, _sir_," Chloe leaned forwards and looked at him. "Is how the remains of a guy who was attacked in a _swimming pool_ ended up 20 miles away in a _reservoir_."

Lester pouted. "Maybe there never _was_ an anomaly. Maybe the girl murdered her boyfriend in the swimming pool and dumped his body in the reservoir?"

"It's very likely." Nick surprised everyone by agreeing. "Provided you also believe she swallowed him whole and then drove 20 miles down the motorway to regurgitate his remains."

Lester turned his glare from Chloe to Nick. "All right, then _you_ explain it."

Nick nodded. "We know it was the same beast in the pool and the reservoir. Perhaps the anomaly has a fixed point of origin in the past, yet somehow it remains fluid in our time. They don't just open, they _move_."

"Move." Lester didn't seem impressed at all.

Chloe was though. "That's brilliant."

Nick grinned. "What we need to do now is go back to that reservoir and do some more research."

Of course, doing some more research on these things wasn't exactly Chloe's field, so while the others all did whatever it was that they did, the blonde strolled around taking pictures. She took pictures of the onlookers, who were being kept back by Ryan's spare men, took pictures of Claudia, Captain Ryan and Nick as they spoke, of Connor as he marked water levels, of Abby and Stephen as they tested water samples, and of the reservoir itself.

They hadn't found anything yet. No creature, no anomaly, no nothing. They were still searching the reservoir, but with any luck the anomaly had closed again.

"I need detailed local maps, lists of swimming pools, rivers, lakes, anything nearby." Nick turned to Claudia. "Can you get those for me?

The redhead gave him a wry smile. "Should I be asking why?"

He smiled back. "It's just an idea."

"Professor!" Connor looked up from his marks. "Professor!"

Chloe turned towards the call.

Nick rushed around to the other side of the pier to where Connor was poking a stick into the water. The stick had a piece of red tape around it part way up.

The water doesn't reach the red tape.

"You're really going to want to see this." Connor predicted with a large grin. "The reservoir's land locked, right?"

"Yes." The leader of their ragtag team nodded.

"So, allowing for condensation and rainfall, the depth should be pretty consistent."

"Yes." Nick agreed once more.

"Well, I made this mark at water level earlier." Connor announced as he showed Nick the tape before putting the stick back in the water. "The water level's fallen 40 centimetres since then." His grin grew as he turned to look at Nick. "This isn't a reservoir any more, it's a tidal lake. The water's literally pouring out of it."

"It must be flowing out through the anomaly." Nick deducted, running a hand over his head as he looked out across the reservoir. "Which means it's still down there somewhere."

Chloe followed their gaze to the water and began taking pictures, wondering if something like this was what had created the Nessie Legend. Some poor dinosaur going through an anomaly and appearing to the villagers, forever to be immortalized as the Loch Ness Monster.

It explained how there were so many sightings of the creature, but how all the attempts to find Nessie had failed.

And then that got her wondering if that was so, what sort of dinosaur Nessie really was.

And _that_ made her realize that she _really_ didn't know her dinosaurs.

It was shameful given her current line of work.

_Right. Must do some studying._

So deep in her thoughts Chloe nearly missed it, nearly took it as a trick of the eye, but then she really stopped and narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Nick?" Her eyes widened as she realized what she was seeing. "_Nick_!"

Connor and Nick looked up at her yell.

"What is it?" Nick asked as he jogged up towards her.

"_Look_." She grinned, pointing to her discovery. "Don't you see? There's_ steam_." Her grin turned ridiculously large. "The tide must be coming in, bringing in warmer water from the other side." She reached out and grabbed Nick's arm. "The steam has to be _exactly_ where the anomaly is."

Nick stared across the water at the steam before giving a choked laugh, turning and grabbing Chloe's head, dropping a kiss to her forehead. "_Smart girl_!" And with that he hurried to find Captain Ryan and Stephen.

Chloe watched him go, smiling.

Maybe she wasn't so useless to this team _after all_.

She was still praising herself as she sat on the wall separating the bank of the reservoir with the rest of the land. She was going over the pictures she'd taken, since there was nothing more to do. Nick and Stephen were with Captain Ryan's men, in the water, in scuba gear studying the anomaly, while Connor and Abby stood waist deep in the reservoir, collecting sample of water.

"Why does Stephen get all the fun stuff to do whilst we get stuck collecting water samples?" Connor wanted to know, voice a whine.

"He looks better in a wetsuit." Abby replied without having to think of the answer.

"That's debatable." Connor pouted at the pixie-like girl whom Chloe was almost sure he had a major crush on. "I could do the action stuff too as well, you know. I'm not just a massive intellect."

Chloe sniggered at that one, training her camera on them and starting to snap some pictures, if only to record Connor's many different pouty-faces.

Something spooked a pair of swans swimming near to the arguing duo.

Chloe frowned, eyeing the area suspiciously through the lens, seeing something dark beneath the water before it surfaced, swimming towards the two in the water.

It was unlike anything Chloe had seen before, and she was willing to bet it all on that _this_ was what had regurgitated that poor swimmer. "_GUYS_!" She screamed, standing up on the wall and waving her arms crazily to attract their attentions. "_GET OUT OF THE WATER! NOW!_"

Connor and Abby turned their heads to look at her before turning to look in the direction she was pointing.

Both froze.

"_RUN_!" Chloe screamed.

It seemed enough to jerk them out of their terror, Connor grabbing Abby's hand and jerking her behind him as they began to rush towards the banks, but the resistance of the water was slowing them down drastically.

"SOMEONE HELP!" Chloe called to the remaining of Ryan's team, who were still on land, but they were too far away and couldn't hear her.

With desperation she turned back to look at Abby and Connor.

The creature was gaining on them.

"_COME ON_!"

Connor and Abby continued trudging through the waist-deep water frantically.

The monster kept gaining ground.

"_COME ON_!" Chloe watched with a sickening feeling as she realized something.

They weren't going to make it.

Letting go of the camera, Chloe dropped off of the wall and down onto the bank below, running towards the water. Grabbing the intricate and beautiful dagger Stephen had given her as a thank you for devising the plan to get the venom from the giant centipede, she sliced her palm, crying out in pain before placing her hand in the water, clenching and opening her palm, causing the blood to flow out quicker.

If this creature was like other marine predators it would be able to smell a _drop_ of blood miles away.

With the water around her hand slowly turning red, Chloe was sure it would smell it.

For a second it seemed to still be heading towards Abby and Connor, and then it turned.

Heading towards her.

Not having thought through this plan past this stage, Chloe panicked, pulling her hand out of the water and scrambling up the small bank only to realize that the wall was too high to climb back up. Turning back to the water, she gave a scream as the creature leapt out and tried to reach her, but thankfully it couldn't climb up the slippery bank. She moved from side to side, trying to keep out of its reach, back pressed to the wall, the scent of her blood causing the creature to go wild and ferocious in its attempts to get at her.

"SOMEONE BLOODY HELP HER!" Connor yelled as he pulled Abby onto the bank, both of them hurrying towards where Ryan's men were, trying to catch their attention.

Chloe gulped, gaze darting around before she noticed the canoes stacked on the left of the bank. As the creature slipped back into the water after yet another failed lunge at her, the blonde darted to the side and grabbed an oar from one of the canoes. Lunging forwards she tried to hit the creature with it when it tried for her once more.

Terror built up like pressure in her ears, leaving her unable to hear anything but static.

She desperately wanted to be anywhere but here.

A heat built up inside of her stomach, throbbing and pulsating.

Her sliced, bleeding palm was burning against the wood of the oar.

She was beginning to feel faint.

And really hot.

And why did everything look brighter?

She hit the creature over the nose a couple of times before it grabbed the oar in its mouth and jerked it out of her hold.

The blonde pressed up against the wall once more, world spinning.

The monster lunged at her.

A gunshot sounded throughout the air, and the creature roared in pain, blood spurting from its side as it turned away and dove back into the water.

Chloe looked up to see Captain Ryan with his beloved M4 resting on the wall, reaching a hand down to her.

"Going up?" He asked conversationally.

She grinned, placing her uninjured hand in his and was surprised at how easy it was for him to pull her back up. "You just saved my life."

"All in a day's work, ma'am." He nodded, picking up his gun once more before frowning, noticing the blood trailing down her hand. "You're hurt. We need to get you to the medics immediately."

"I'm fine." She tried to assure as he led her to the medics, and listened to his scolding for her actions. She then got scolded by the medics, who had said that if she'd cut any deep she could have cut some _very_ important tendons, and then by Nick when he surfaced later.

"What were you _thinking_?" Nick roared at her.

"She was saving us, sir." Connor surprisingly stood up to Nick before turning to Chloe and smiling. "Thank you."

"Yeah, thank you." Abby smiled as well.

Chloe grinned at them. "Anytime."

Nick glared at her for that wording.

"At least we know what it is, the creature, I mean." Connor announced, thankfully taking the attention off of a grateful Chloe, who mouthed a 'thank you' to him from behind Nick's shoulder.

Connor smiled and nodded to her.

Nick didn't notice. "What is it?"

"Some kind of mosasaur, maybe six or seven metres." Connor determined, getting down to business. "Cretaceous, at a guess."

Nick sent Chloe a look that promised that their conversation over her 'stupidity' wasn't over, but turned his attention to Claudia as the redhead approached.

Chloe gazed at a group of Ryan's men, who were standing a short distance away with Ryan and Stephen.

"They're all really upset about losing the diver." Claudia announced shortly, eyes on Nick. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"He swam through right in front of me." Nick sighed tiredly at the memory. "He should have been able to make it back through."

"Something must have stopped him." The redhead deduced. "Are you absolutely _certain_ the anomaly's closed?"

"Straight after the mosasaur went back through." Nick nodded, completely certain about this. "The water temperature's already returned to normal."

Claudia's expression was, for a fraction of a second, grief-stricken. "Then we've lost him."

Nick nodded, expression solemn. "Yeah."

Chloe sighed as she got up and started walking towards the bank.

"Oy." Nick called to her. "Where are _you_ going young lady?"

"You're not my father, Nick." She called back, missing the flinch he gave. The blonde walked up to Ryan and stood next to him on the dock as he gazed at the water. "I'm sorry about your diver."

He turned his head down towards her for a second before nodding and returning his gaze to the water. "He was a good man."

She looked up at him, and could see the sadness etched in his expression.

The smaller blonde reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for saving my life. Even _if_ it was just your job."

He looked down at her in shock before smiling. "You're welcome."

She smiled and walked away, ignoring the teasing expression Stephen threw her as she passed him.

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Back at the Home Office, Nick, Claudia, and Lester were in the meeting room, a load of maps on the table. Abby and Connor had returned to their perspective flats, Chloe had decided to go out for a bit, and Stephen was waiting for Nick outside, not liking being in such closed quarters with Lester. Nick couldn't really blame him. The little man required a _large_ amount of patience to deal with.

"The anomalies are times equivalent of an earthquake." The blonde scot announced, leaning over the maps. "Strong enough to rip apart the boundaries between dimensions. My guess is that the fault line ruptured at the swimming pool, then ran to the reservoir. It could crash its way through into our time again anywhere along this line."

"Earthquakes? Temporal fault lines?" Lester sneered. "Are we trying a little too hard people? It's random chance, that's all. There's no connection with any of it." He steepled his fingers together. "Try to look on the bright side, Cutter. The anomaly's gone, the crisis is over and I'd say we got off pretty lightly."

"Except that a good man in now permanently marooned in the past." Claudia replied with a slight narrowing of her eyes at her boss.

Lester ignored her.

"There could be another breach along the fault line at any given moment." Nick winced, the image of the diver accidentally swimming through the anomaly and disappearing flashing through his mind over and over again. "You should be stationing troops at every significant body of water between the reservoir and the coast."

Without even a second's thought, Lester shot down the idea. "The press would be crawling all over us in seconds. How on _Earth_ would we explain it? I mean, you admit that it's all conjecture."

Nick nodded. "Yes, of course it is, but I'm right."

"You people, you're worse than the climate change mob." Lester bemoaned. "One cold day in July and suddenly it's the new Ice Age."

"You're making a mistake." Nick snapped, unable to take this little man and his attitude any longer. Not when there was a good man lost to them and he couldn't seem to bring himself to care a _little_. "If and _when_ the anomaly breaks through again, I guarantee you it will be somewhere along this line." He pointed to the line he'd marked in the map before storming out of the office, telling himself that the next time there was an anomaly he was going to have to somehow find a way to make pushing Lester through it look like an accident.

He was going to have to get Chloe's input on how to do it.

She was very good at thinking on her feet, obviously somewhat crafty, and with a gift of getting herself into trouble.

Just like Helen.

Nick paused, that ache in his heart whenever Helen was concerned returning full force.

He sighed, took in a deep breath, and went down the stairs to where Stephen was waiting on him.

Patting the younger man on the shoulder as he passed, he pulled out a rolled up map. "Come on, let's go."

Stephen didn't move.

Nick stopped and turned towards him. "Is everything alright?"

Stephen took in a deep breath. "I've been remembering things...about the day the giant centipede bit me."

Nick sighed, looking away, knowing what Stephen was trying to say. "You mean Helen." He'd hoped Stephen would forget forever.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Stephen narrowed his eyes at Nick. "She told you that if you wanted the truth that you had to go through the anomaly to find her. Did you go looking for her?"

"Look, if she wanted to talk to me then she could have. Why keep playing games with me?"

"You mean this isn't the _first_ time?" Stephen was glaring at him proper by now. "How long have you known she was alive?"

"Look, not long. But all these years, she let me think she was dead. She let me go through that." Nick looked away, sure he wasn't able to mask the pain he felt. "What does that tell you?"

Stephen sighed, the anger draining out of him. "Come on, there could be all kinds of reasons why she stayed away. The point is she wants to see you now."

"She left you to die on your own."

"Maybe she thought you could handle everything by yourself."

"Maybe she didn't care." Nick countered, this time narrowing _his_ eyes at _Stephen_. "You think I don't want to know what happened? I've thought of nothing else for eight years. And now I have even _more_ questions than you can even begin to _comprehend!_ Questions that leave me unable to sleep and work properly! But what if…What if the truth is worse than not knowing?" He paused, thinking about Chloe, before sighing tiredly. "Are you going to tell the others?"

"No, it's not my call." Stephen shook his head. "But if she was _my_ wife, I'd go through a million anomalies for her."

"Yeah, but she isn't, is she?"

"But she was important to me too."

"I know that." Nick agreed, turning to leave. "Are you coming?"

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Sitting in the coffee shop, Chloe cupped the warm cup of coffee for the warmth, still unable to get used to the colder London weather. She was a Metropolis girl, used to the warmth of the sun, and yet most days in London were overcast and drizzly. It took a lot of getting used to, and she was only beginning.

And least they had good coffee.

The blonde took another long sip of that delicious liquid and then looked at her bandaged hand.

She flinched at the memory.

_I'm not going to get any sleep tonight_, she predicted with a sigh.

The laughter all around her was depressing.

It reminded her of just how alone she was in this foreign country.

"A double mocha, please."

Chloe froze, eyes wide.

No.

_No_.

It _couldn't_ be!

She turned her head discreetly towards the counter and brought one hand to her mouth to keep her cry silent before she quickly turned her back on the figure ordering at the counter.

_Ben_.

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At the Home Office, Claudia ended the phone call and turned to Lester, gaze serious.

"We haven't clarified the exact picture yet, but it looks like a plumber was attacked in some woman's cellar."

"I'm not surprised," Lester snorted. "Have you _seen_ how much these people charge?"

"The owner of the house claims that the damage was done by some kind of large reptile."

There was a moment's silence.

"And I suppose you're going to tell me this town lies directly on Cutter's mythical fault line?" Lester sneered before noticing the expression on Claudia's face, a frown finally darkening his. "I'm _really_ beginning to dislike that man."

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Claudia arrived in a jeep to the location of the attack, looking up as Ryan (in civies like the rest of his men) moved to greet her.

"We found a second body in the water in the basement." The tall blonde announced, face devoid of expression. "It's our diver. The man we lost in the reservoir."

Claudia's eyes widened.

"Looks like he died of shock." Captain Ryan took in a deep breath. "They found this tied around his wrist. We don't know how the hell it got there." He held up a handkerchief with the initial H.C. embroidered on it.

As she saw the initials, Claudia felt as if she'd been slapped in the face.

"Is everyone inside?"

"I have a man picking up Miss Sullivan as we speak, otherwise everyone is present."

"Thank you, Captain." The redhead nodded before heading inside, fury in every tap of her very high heels as she headed to the cellar, noticing Nick and Stephen, who were watching some soldiers disguised in civvies poking around.

Nick looked up at her and grinned. "What kept you?"

Not even his grin could win him any favors with her right now as she gave him a look.

"What is it?" Nick's smile melted into a worried expression.

She wordlessly showed him the handkerchief.

He recognized it.

He knew as well.

H.C.

Helen Cutter.

Stephen and Nick exchanged looked before Nick followed Claudia upstairs, going to lean against a windowsill.

"_Talk,_ Cutter." Claudia snapped, her patience wearing thin.

"Helen's mad old aunt used to give us those handkerchiefs, um...Same present every single birthday and Christmas, and we used to make jokes about them." He sighed, still looking out of the window and not at her. "That's a message. It means Helen's waiting for me on the other side of the anomaly."

"Just like she was in the Underground."

There was a pause. "Yeah."

Claudia shook her head, unable to believe it. "Why didn't you tell me? You lied to me, to _all_ of us."

"Try and see it from my perspective." He finally turned to face her, expression conflicted. "I had just found out that my dead wife was still alive."

"She might know things. Things that could help us." The redhead hated the disappointment she felt rising up her throat. "You have _no right_ to decide what we should know and when we should know it."

"She's my wife."

"Maybe in your mind that gives you some kind of special privilege, but this affects all of us." Claudia whispered. "If you can't see that, then you just can't be here anymore." Letting the handkerchief fall through her fingers to the floor, she turned and walked away.

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Lester arrived in his posh car, backed up by a police escort.

Ryan greeted him as he exited the car. "Area secure sir."

Lester nodded before heading into the house.

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Chloe was frozen.

She'd nearly jumped when Ryan had called her telling her about the anomaly opening up and asking where she was so one of the men could come pick her up. He'd wondered why she was talking so low and shakily, but she'd merely cut him off and used the mirror in front of her to look behind her at Ben Becker, as he sat by the window and looked out. He was paler than she remembered him. And thinner. There were dark bags under his eyes and frown lines on his face. He looked nothing like the man she'd loved...she still loved. God. What had happened to him?

Worry for him, and worry about being found by him, warred inside of her.

On one hand she wanted him to leave immediately and not see her, but on the other hand she wanted him there so she could just _watch_ him.

Kinda like a stalker.

_Ben_.

Her heart ached by just seeing him.

_Ben_.

Behind him, through the window, Chloe could see the black army vehicle Ryan and his men drove in.

She gulped.

Her mobile rung. "Hello?" She nearly whispered again.

"Miss Sullivan?" An unknown voice asked. "I am waiting outside for you."

"Okay." Disconnecting the call, Chloe walked towards the door as discreetly as she could, refusing to look in Ben's direction or do anything to call any attention to herself.

She made it out of the store, feeling sick to her stomach, looking up as the vehicle's door was opened from inside for her by the soldier.

She clasped onto the open door with a shaky hand, and then lost the battle with her self will.

The blonde turned slightly to get one last look at Ben through the window.

And found him looking straight at her, even paler than he'd been moments ago, shock and millions of different emotions warring on his face.

She could see her name on his lips.

Her heart-it _hurt_.

The blonde quickly dove into the car and slammed the door just as Ben, still inside the coffee shop, shot to his feet. "Drive! Quickly!"

The soldier didn't understand what was going on, but did as told, pulling out into the street rapidly and speeding away.

Chloe's teary gaze went to the passenger's side rearview mirror in time to see Ben race out of the shop, desperation his only expression, as he looked around, trying to find her.

They turned the corner and he thus disappeared from view.

"Is everything alright, ma'am?" The soldier asked. "Was that man bothering you?"

"What man?" She whispered, looking out of the window.

The soldier respected her need for silence, and pretended to not notice her wiping her eyes or the sniffles that followed after as well.

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Lester was _not_ happy.

"The revelation that Helen Cutter's still alive changes everything."

Connor blinked, looking around in confusion. "She's still alive? Um, how did I miss that?"

"Long story." Claudia muttered.

"So, eight years, she's been living in the past." Connor shook his head, before his eyes widened. "My God. _How_ are we going to explain Celebrity Love Island to her?"

Claudia refrained from actively ignoring Nick to glare at Connor. "Shut up Connor."

Connor shut up.

"She's eight years ahead of us in terms of understanding the anomalies." Lester began to pace the room. "Her knowledge could be priceless and we have to share it."

"Which is fine if she was here, but she isn't." Stephen pointed out.

"Which is why we're going to go and find her." Lester replied testily. "We know she wants to make contact. She must be brought back here, by force if necessary."

Nick stepped forwards, eyes narrowed. "This is my _wife_ you're talking about."

"Which is why I want _you_ to go through the anomaly and bring her back." Lester wasn't in the least bit intimidated. "You will of course have a military escort."

"To do what?" Nick challenged, anger leaking into his tone. "_Shoot_ her if she won't come back?"

"To protect you, both of you." Lester replied smoothly, though his smile was anything but pleasant. "The alternative is you sever all ties with the anomaly project with immediate effect, and we'll go and find her ourselves."

There was silence.

Nick couldn't win this.

He couldn't.

The man took in a deep breath. "Okay, on one condition. I go on my own." His eyes narrowed. "There's no question of force. I'll do my best, but if she doesn't want to come back, then that's it."

"How can we trust you?" Claudia was surprisingly enough, the one to voice the question.

"Oh, I'm sure Professor Cutter won't let us down again." Lester gave the reply, before sneering at Nick. "You _will_ try and remember what side you're on, won't you?"

Nick glared at Lester, not answering.

Not at all phased by this, Lester clasped his hands behind his back and frowned, looking around at them. "Where's the Yankee?"

"Chloe was out when we got the call." Abby quickly answered. "One of Ryan's men went to get her."

"_Americans_." Lester sighed, apparently _very_ put upon. "They're _never_ anywhere on time."

"This coming from the nation that drives on the _wrong_ side of the road." Chloe piped up as she entered the room they'd been speaking in. She turned to Connor and whispered: "What did I miss?"

"Cutter's wife is still alive, sending him handkerchiefs from the great beyond," Connor whispered back as the others all followed after Nick, as he went to prepare himself. "Apparently he's known for a while now, and so Lester and Claudia are _very_ unhappy with him."

"I think Claudia's jealous." Abby joined in on the whispering as they kept to the back of the group.

"You got the vibe that she's into him too?" Chloe turned to Abby, excited.

Abby grinned and nodded.

"Oy, wait, _what_?" Connor looked between the girls on either side of his body. "What vibe? When was this? I felt no vibe. When was there a vibe?"

"You're such a bloke." Abby patted his arm consolingly.

"Huh?" Connor blinked.

They continued trying to explain the vibes only the females seemed able to pick up, but stopped speaking when Nick returned, all geared up, and went to the cellar, entering the water and making the final preparations.

Stephen crouched on a wooden platform in the cellar next to his half-submerged friend. "Okay, so you've got about an hour of air, and a mile of rope. Take a compass reference as soon as you get there, and just stay attached. After two hours, we'll reel you back in." He cleared his throat. "The water pressure in the anomaly is going to be intense, okay? So the harder you swim, the more air you're going to use." He held up a harpoon gun. "Now this has an effective range of about ten metres. If you have to use it against a predator, wait until you see the whites of its teeth."

"I've always loved that line when they say it on the telly." Connor confessed to Abby.

Chloe agreed, but it sounded less exciting and more foreboding when it was uttered in real life.

With a salute to his team, Nick dove.

Stephen began playing out the rope.

Chloe went to his side and sat down, looking at the water. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He's Nick." Stephen turned to her. "He's always okay."

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Nick swam through the anomaly and emerged on the other side, where there were a surprising amount of hesperonis' swimming around him, but none attacked. Still, he kept a vigilant eye on them and a tight grip on the harpoon gun, ready to use it if necessary, but praying to all holy that that wouldn't come to pass. If only because his aim wasn't exactly the greatest in the world. The scientist surfaced and swam to the shore, where he left his scuba gear (and the rope it was attached to) on the beach, along with the harpoon gun. The blonde took in a deep breath and looked around, eyeing some flying creature above the other side of the lake.

"_Helen_!" He yelled, looking around.

Nothing.

Shaking his head, Nick set off along the beach, calling Helen's name as he went. Climbing a rock formation, he frowned as he realized there were Hesperonis perched on the rocks, hissing at him, but thankfully they didn't attack. He was halfway up the cliff, where he intended to get a better view of the land, when he heard a splash.

Looking to his left he froze.

Helen Cutter was swimming, naked, in a small pool below.

"Hello Nick," she looked up at him with a smile. Other than her wavy brown hair being longer than he remembered, and her skin was darker from being under the sun constantly, she really hadn't changed in these last eight years. "I see you got my message."

He sighed and made his way down the formation, and by the time he'd reached her she was getting redressed.

Despite the fact that this was his wife, the blonde felt the need to turn his back and give her privacy.

"You've lost weight." She noted from behind him. "You haven't been eating properly."

"You let me think you were dead." He accused, still unable to believe it.

"I _am_ dead as the person you knew." She replied smoothly. "My old life ended eight years ago. You know, you can turn around, I'm decent." She sighed as he did so. "There's no easy way to do this, is there?"

"Well, maybe we should just skip the small talk." He narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you come back?"

"What are you really upset about Nick?" She sneered. "That I stayed away, or that I didn't tell you what I was doing?"

"I'm not upset Helen." Nick took in a deep breath. "I just don't know who you are anymore.

"You want to know why I didn't come back?" Helen asked curiously. "Because I _knew_ your conscience would make you throw all this out there for everyone to trample over and I wasn't ready to share it then. Hey!" A hesperonis got too close and Helen threw a rock at it. "Hesperonis. Scary up close, but cumbersome and very stupid."

He didn't care.

Helen could obviously tell, if the slight annoyance on her face was anything to go by.

"Is she my daughter?"

Helen then smiled. "Haven't you seen the resemblance between you two? Your coloring is almost identical." That smile grew mischievous. "But she's short-_much_ shorter than either of us. Who's side are we blaming that on?"

Nick couldn't feel the mischievous cheer his wife obviously did.

He felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"She's my daughter."

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't get a DNA test done as yet." Helen announced with a shrug.

"_How_ could you have done this to me?" Nick whispered, voice hoarse with emotion as he looked at her. "Chloe's my _daughter_ and yet you preferred to give birth to her 14 years before you even _left_ me for the anomalies? And _leave_ her there?"

"What do you want Nick? An apology?" She snapped. "What's the point?"

"Eight years of my life back would be nice." Nick glared at her. "Eight years raising my _daughter_ even better!"

"Your job has always been more important to you than anything, Nick." Helen raised her chin defiantly. "You would have made a _piss poor_ father. I did Chloe a _favor_ when I gave her to Moira and Gabe. They were good people who would devote themselves to her." There was a pause. "Also, I needed her to be an adult by this time. If I'd taken her to you she would have still been a kid, only eight years old. She'd be no good to me at that age. It'd be impossible."

Nick narrowed his eyes. "_What_ would be impossible?"

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Chloe looked up as Stephen joined her on the couch. He'd been down in the cellar the whole time, and if he hadn't come up she would have gone down to check on him.

"Chloe, how long has he been?" Stephen asked, sending a look at the stopwatch in her hand.

Connor nor Abby looked up from the maps they were studying.

"91 minutes, 41 seconds." Chloe read, sighing. "He's still got time."

Stephen nodded. "Yeah, he does."

"The drains." Connor announced, looking up. "Stephen? In theory, a creature could make its way along the sewage system all the way to the river, and once it's there, it could go anywhere."

"And?" Stephen asked.

"Well," Connor cleared his throat. "Good news is the size of the drains rules out anything bigger than a small mosasaur."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "How small is a small mosasaur?"

The self-proclaimed 'massive intellect''s shoulders sagged. "Not small enough."

Chloe was about to ask him to define 'not small enough' when Claudia entered the room with a bunch of men who were pulling on wetsuits.

Stephen frowned, leaning forwards. "What's going on?"

Claudia's only answer was to close the door on them.

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Helen handed Nick the lid of a thermos flask and filled it for him.

"Have you come back before?" Nick asked, defensive. "Did you watch me grieve? Did you come to the funeral?"

"No." She looked up from where she filling it. "Was it good?"

"It was okay."

She smirked, standing. "I'll answer all your question, Nick. All you have to do is come with me. You and Chloe. There are more anomalies than you can _possibly_ imagine." Her smirk grew. "And I know how to find them."

"I asked you a question." Nick narrowed his eyes. "What use is Chloe to you now? What use am _I_ now? After so long?"

"I'm human." Helen sighed, shaking her head at him as if disappointed he really needed to ask. "I want company. I want to share this incredible gift, but only with you and Chloe. Nick, I have seen such wonders. Things you wouldn't _believe_."

"You're asking me to abandon my life. Leave behind everything I know." And yet it was tempting. "You know, people are _dying_ back home, and you want me to just run away with you and the daughter you cheated me out of?"

"Stop harping on that little issue, Nick. I already told you that I have nothing to apologize about concerning our daughter." Helen looked bored with the topic. "And anyway, animals die, Nick. Species die. You know I'm right. One day, humanity will disappear, just like the dinosaurs, and nature doesn't care, something else will just take our place. Nick, just leave all the other stuff behind. Come with me. Become a family with me and our daughter."

He looked all around him with a sigh. "I've got a job to do, you could help me if you like. You could try getting to know your daughter in an _as-normal_-_as-possible_ environment. Tell her the truth and try form a real bond with her."

Shock was obvious on that beautiful face. "You're rejecting me?"

"I'm asking you to come back with me."

"I offer you the key to time." She shook her head, sneer appearing on her face. "The key to _time_, Nick. And you turn your back on it? Call yourself a _scientist_?"

"I call myself a human being." He sighed, tired. The blonde turned and began to return back to where his gear was.

"You disappoint me, Nick." Helen called after him. "Maybe I should have just gone to Chloe instead of trying to include you in our family. Maybe I should have remembered that your job will _always_ come before your family."

"_I_ wasn't the one who ran away and abandoned her husband _and_ daughter." Nick replied, not turning around.

There was no answer to that.

Nick was in a daze as he returned to the shore and put on his gear. Grabbing the harpoon gun he dove back into the lake and began swimming back to the anomaly. He'd nearly reached it when he realized a mosasaur was approaching him steadily. The blonde watched it as it swam above him, and he turned back around and gave a start as he saw another mosasaur, smaller than the first, also heading towards him. He swam away, but the creature head butted him, throwing him a little off course before circling around Nick. A predator rounding up his prey. Firing the harpoon at the creature only served to enrage it, as the harpoon grazed it, causing no lasting harm. He slid the scuba gear off, now useless to him and only serving to weigh and slow him down, but left the rope tied around him.

The shadow of the larger mosasaur appeared behind the smaller one, and just as the small mosasaur was about to attack Nick again, the large one attacked it from the side, obviously attracted to the blood. The larger one viciously killed it, swimming away with the creature in it mouth.

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Abby and Connor were still above, Connor looking at the maps and Abby pacing.

Chloe could hear them through the thin floors as she looked at her timer, turning to Stephen and Ryan in the cellar. "It's two hours. He'll be running out of air right about now."

Stephen and Ryan nod to each other, starting to pull on the rope while Claudia, who'd apparently been keeping time upstairs, came down to stand nervously next to Chloe, eyeing the water in worry.

And then they saw Nick.

"He's lost his tank." Chloe whispered in horror.

"Quick, get him out!" Claudia ordered urgently as the unconscious man floated to the surface now that he was pulled out of the anomaly.

Stephen and Ryan jumped into the water, dragging him out.

"Cutter!" Stephen tried to get him to respond.

"Get his head up." Ryan ordered.

"He's not breathing." Stephen announced, voice breaking as they lifted Nick onto the platform with Claudia and Chloe's help.

Chloe just watched, horror filling her body.

Claudia started giving Nick's pale, lifeless body CPR.

"Medic!" Ryan yelled as he pulled himself up onto the platform. "Get some air inside him!"

"Come on." Stephen whispered to Nick as he pulled himself up onto the platform. "Breathe you idiot!"

Chloe lowered herself to her knees next to Stephen, hardly able to breathe due to her worry.

"_Breathe_." Stephen stressed, nearly angrily.

Chloe found her hand resting over Stephen's. "Come on Nick."

His fingers tightened on hers. "_Breathe_!"

Suddenly Nick started coughing up water, waking up a little.

Chloe and Stephen gave cries of happiness and hugged tightly before Stephen scrambled to his feet and helped Ryan support Nick, taking him up the stairs.

The two females remained behind, profound relief on their faces.

"You're incredible." Chloe whispered to Claudia.

The redhead just ducked her gaze. "Thank _god_ he's okay."

A stretched was brought to the top of the stairs, and Ryan and Stephen lowered the nearly unconscious man in it.

"Was Helen there?" Stephen could be heard asking.

Nick nodded. "_Yes_." And then his eyes closed.

"So she _was_ there." Claudia whispered to herself before looking up at Captain Ryan, who was standing at the top of the stairs by himself since Stephen had followed the stretcher away. "You know what to do."

Ryan nodded before turning to someone behind him. "Let's go." He came back downstairs, followed by a bunch of guys in wetsuits and scuba gear.

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?"

"It's out of my hands." Claudia whispered, watching as the men put on their masks and entered the water, disappearing below, through the anomaly.

Chloe's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "Lester said-!"

"I _said_," Lester announced as he slowly descended the stairs, arms clasped behind his back. "That Helen Cutter has eight years of knowledge about the anomalies, knowledge we simply _must_ have." He raised his chin. "You would have heard that if you had been on _time_, Miss Sullivan."

She glared at him, clenching her hand into a fist, and then hissing in pain as her sliced palm throbbed under the pressure.

Lester didn't seem to mind her glare, or even _notice_ it for that matter.

And Claudia looked guilty and annoyed that she was feeling guilty.

Chloe looked at the stairs and back at the water.

Time passed.

No one spoke.

Everyone's gaze was on the water.

Rapid footsteps caused her to look up in time to see a grinning Stephen descending the steps once more. "They said he'll be fine." He reached her side and frowned when he noticed the expression on her face. "What's wrong? What is it?"

But she didn't have to answer.

There were multiple shadows in the water.

Lester took in a deep breath.

Chloe grabbed Stephen's arm, not sure how he was going to react if his best friend's wife really _had been_ captured.

Stephen looked down at her in confusion, and then he looked up as Ryan and his men surfaced, holding Helen Cutter prisoner in their ranks. "_Helen_?" His eyes narrowed in anger at Claudia and Lester. "_What is the meaning of this?_"

Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief as they pulled the oxygen mask off of the woman, Lester grabbing hold of her and pulling her up onto the platform.

The woman's brown gaze slid onto her.

Chloe's grip on Stephen tightened, her mouth falling open.

He paused in the middle of his accusing Lester and Claudia of going against their word, to look down at Chloe in worry. "Chloe?"

Between Ryan and Lester, they dragged Helen out of the room, Claudia following behind.

Only when they were alone in the room, did Chloe look up at Stephen, shaking. "I _know_ her."

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**Review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval/Smallville**

**wanna thank Veronica, The Alternative Source & vamp1987 for reviewing the previous chapter.**

_CHLOE. Please. I saw you. I KNOW you're alive. That you're in London. Please. I need-why did you run when you saw me? This has been inactive since you...disappeared...but its my only...I can't think of any other way of getting in contact with you._

Chloe looked at the wall post on her Facebook account, eyes wide.

It was from Ben.

Chloe leaned back against the wall, cradling the laptop on her lap, as she looked away from the screen to the empty near empty flat she'd been given close to the Home Office. It was large and empty and silent. She hated it.

Maybe she should get a dog or something just to give it a little _life_.

Her mobile rung and she blinked when she saw Abby's name on the caller I.D. "Hello?"

"Save me."

If it wasn't for the fact that Abby sounded so ridiculously flustered Chloe would have been worried.

"From what?" Chloe asked, chuckling slightly.

"_Connor_." The pixie-ish girl bemoaned. "His flatmate kicked him out of their flat, and I-_the fool_-told him he could stay with me until he found another place."

Chloe hadn't really begun connecting with Abby as she had the male members of the team (of course, that was probably because Chloe was always more comfortable being 'one of the boys' rather than 'one of the girls') so she was unsure of how to handle this. She didn't want to mess things up with Abby, especially since the other girl had made the effort to take the first step. "He can't be _that_ bad."

"He complains about the temperature I have the thermostat at, kicks his shoes off and leaves them haphazzardly on my floor, and he asks me to put on the kettle so he can have some tea." Abby replied flatly. "He just asked me why I don't think of learning how to _cook_ because we both need 'healthy homemade food' to keep us in 'top condition'."

Chloe winced. "_How_ long have you two been married again?"

"I hate you." Abby groaned. "Shoot me. Or him. Preferably him."

The american giggled, somehow perversely enjoying this. "How about a day out?"

"Hmm?" Abby seemed to be perking.

"It's nothing big, or even remotely interesting." Chloe hurried to explain. "It's just that the Home Office gave me a certain amount I can use to buy furniture and things for my flat and-."

"Shopping. You want to go _shopping_. On Lester's tab." Abby seemed like she could hardly keep herself together. "Where do we meet and at what time?"

Chloe smiled, relieved that Abby seemed excited. This could be the bonding experience they needed. "Uhm, how about we meet outside the Home Office Saturday? It's close to where we all live so its convenient."

"Around eleven-ish?" Abby asked.

"Perfect."

"Great." The smile was evident in her voice. "See you then, Chlo."

And with that she hung up.

Chloe smiled.

'Chlo'.

They were off to a good start.

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In the Maximum Security wing, two soldiers escorted Helen Cutter down a corridor and into a room, where she was sat down forcibly at a table that was obviously being monitored from another room.

Helen leaned back in the seat, not looking overly concerned about being kept prisoner, as she gazed up at James Lester. "Presumably there are still laws against kidnapping?"

"Hmmm." Lester hummed as he nodded his answer. "Though, officially, you're dead. We can't have kidnapped someone who doesn't actually exist, can we?" He leaned down on the table between them, looking her straight in the eyes. "The only way you can get out of here is by telling us everything you know about the anomalies."

"I'll tell you one thing," Helen sneered. "You're the spitting image of a utahraptor I once met in the Jurassic."

Someone entered and handed Claudia a note.

Helen watched this with slight curiosity.

"I'll take that as a refusal to co-operate, shall I?" Lester decided.

Claudia turned to her boss. "We've got another anomaly. In a block of flats in the city centre."

Lester shook his head, giving Helen a near accusatory glance. "Happy now?"

Helen just leaned back against the seat and smiled serenely at him.

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Captain Ryan and his men arrived at the flats in the back of a van. Jumping out they ran into the building, and the kids who'd been playing football stood and watched them with their hands raised in the 'surrender' pose. Chloe, in the back of Nick's 4x4 bursted into laughter when she saw this, amused by their reaction. Connor and Abby, who were chuckling next to her, were obviously amused as well as everyone descended from the 4x4 and entered the building. Stephen paused to kick the football the children had resumed playing with.

He managed to hit a sign that read 'No Ball Games'.

Chloe and Abby exchanged impressed looks.

"Fluke." Connor scoffed, noticing the looks.

"Jealous." Stephen teased with a grin as they continued on inside.

In front of them, Ryan and his men arrived at the flat, pointing their guns at it and looking ready to kick the door down.

"Knock first!" Chloe called as she ascended the stairs.

Ryan looked exasperated at her, as if she was purposely trying to steal his thunder, before nodding to one of his men, who knocked on the door.

The owner answered, blinking in shock to see the uniformed men with guns. "I didn't expect the SAS."

"The town council takes pest control very seriously, Mrs. Davis." Nick replied with a serious expression on his face.

Chloe reached Ryan's side and grinned at him. "See? _That_ is one less door the government is going to have to replace now in this time of financial crisis." She paused. "You can praise me later."

He looked like he was fighting to keep the smirk off of his face as he shook his head at her and led him men inside, towards the bathroom, where the owner had said the creature was in. Everyone followed, and Nick for some reason was at the forefront, getting ready to open the bathroom door, Ryan and a few other soldiers with their guns aimed and ready.

Mrs. Davis stood behind them, next to a curious Connor.

Chloe and Abby and Stephen stayed back, due to the smallness of the flat.

Nick turned to Ryan. "Are you ready?"

Ryan nodded.

The door was opened and Ryan and one of his men entered the room, closely followed by Nick and Stephen.

Connor and Mrs. Davis moved into the doorway.

From the back Chloe and Abby couldn't see anything.

"Relax, everyone." Nick could finally be heard saying. "It's only a python."

Suddenly Mrs. Davis screamed in terror, probably when Nick revealed the thing in her toilet. "Only a python? What the _hell_ were you expecting?" She raced away at the sight of the creature.

Connor brought his hands to his ears. "_Ow_."

Abby sent a viciously happy smile to Chloe, obviously enjoying Connor's suffering.

Chloe chuckled, shaking her head.

They were _so_ married.

Ryan and his men exchanged amused expressions before filing out, deciding to leave the 'big bad snake' to Nick and his team.

Chloe glared at the blonde captain to let him know just how she felt about that.

He smirked at her this time, giving the blonde a mock salute before leaving.

Refusing to have _anything_ to do with a snake that had _no_ business being so large, Chloe turned to her colleagues, grinning innocently. "I saw a coffee shop and bakery close by. How about I swing by them and get us all something to snack on and make this whole thing more bearable?"

Abby narrowed her eyes at Chloe. "Are you trying to bribe us into excusing you from snake handling?"

"Is it working?" Chloe asked the pixie-ish girl.

At first there was no change from the narrowed eyes, and then Abby grinned. "Add a scone to the proposal and you have yourself a deal."

Chloe grinned. "One scone coming right up!" With that she turned and left before Connor or Stephen could protest.

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In the same room as before, Lester and Claudia were still interrogating Helen. Or, well, better put, Lester and Helen were having a staring match across the table and Claudia was finishing up a phone conversation with Captain Ryan.

"Well, it turns out it was an illegally imported pet." Claudia announced, ending the call. "Escaped from the upstairs flat and its been living in the drains."

Helen smirked.

Lester narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "Did you know it was a false alarm? You told your husband you knew how to find the anomalies."

"Whatever I said to Nick is between me and him." The prisoner replied easily.

"Prior knowledge of anomaly locations would be priceless." Lester announced as he straightened and fixed the lapels of his suit. "If you can give us that information, it's your absolute _duty_ as a citizen to do so."

"But as you pointed out, I don't even exist, so how can I be a citizen?" Helen's smile was pure amusement.

Lester was _far_ from amused. "You know, I have the power to make your life extremely unpleasant."

Unimpressed by the threat, Helen turned to Claudia. "How can you _bear_ to work with this man?"

"At the end of the day this is about something very simple. Saving lives." Claudia replied, all business. "Now, you can do that. So if you know anything at all, just tell us."

"Bring Nick to me and I'll tell you everything I know." Helen suddenly smirked as she leaned back in her seat. "Or you could do something even better."

"And what would _that be?_" Lester asked, narrowing his eyes, obviously wary of her. "What could possibly be better than getting you your husband?"

Helen smirked. "Bring me my daughter."

Claudia's eyes widened. "_Daughter_?"

Helen's smirk grew. "Bring me Chloe Sullivan."

"The _Yankee_?" Lester straightened his bright red tie. "Well. I didn't see _that_ one coming."

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"Where do you think _you_ are going?" Nick called as he watched Chloe begin to walk away.

She stopped and looked up at him, smiling. "I just bribed my way out of snake duty."

He smirked, amused. "How much did it cost you?"

"Some coffee, sandwiches, and scones. I'm going to go get them right now." She raised her hand to shield her gaze from the glare as she looked up at where he was on the stairs of the apartment block. "Want some?"

"Ate already, but thanks." He grinned down at her.

His daughter was beautiful.

And sweet.

And smart.

And cunning.

And apparently not above bribery.

She was very much like her mother.

He sighed.

"You okay, Nick?" Her smile was gone, replaced by a worried frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine luv." He nodded.

How was he going to approach the subject with her?

It wasn't as if he could just go up to her and say "Hi, I'm your father even though you were born before I even met your mother."

"You need anything?" Chloe wasn't budging from down below. "A drink? Some cigarettes? A hug?"

He chuckled, the smile now more believable. "I'm fine for right now. But If I need any of the above, I'll let you know."

Her grin was back as well. "Okay, good."

They continued to look at each other.

Chloe's smile suddenly melted from her face and she began to fidget. "Nick. About your wife..."

Nick's phone began to ring.

He desperately wanted to ignore the call and hear what she wanted to say about Helen, but he knew the number. "It's Claudia."

"You mean after all these days she's _finally_ getting into contact with you?" Chloe shook her head. "Tell her hi...I hope she has good news concerning Helen."

"Me too." Nick announced, watching as Chloe walked away. He sighed and answered the phone. "Do you have _any_ idea how many times I've tried calling you in the last couple of days?"

"I've been busy." Claudia replied. "And actually you should be thanking me that you're still involved at all."

"You can't get rid of me. You need me."

"Well, the truth is we need each other." Claudia sighed. "Believe me, more now than ever."

"I hope she's driving Lester crazy." Just because if anyone deserved Helen's brand of torment, it was Lester.

"She refuses to speak to anyone but two people of her choosing." Claudia paused. "One is you. The other. Nick. Did you _know_?"

His stomach went sick.

No.

Helen wouldn't have-.

"Did you _know_ Chloe was your daughter?"

Nick closed his eyes.

He hadn't wanted them to know.

Hadn't wanted _Lester_ to know about Chloe's being a Time Child, as he had decided to call it.

What if they wanted to run experiments on her?

What if-?

"_Nick_?"

"Yes." He sighed. "Helen-she told me when I went to the past." He ran a shaky hand over his hair. "She was apparently pregnant when she disappeared, and she gave birth to Chloe 14 years in the past and left her there, because she wanted to travel through the anomalies once more and motherhood wouldn't have agreed with that lifestyle and the dangers it presented." He sighed. "Or so I understood."

"Oh _Nick_." There was a pause. "Does _Chloe_ know?"

"No. I don't even think she knows she was adopted." Nick was quick to say. "I want to find a way to tell her myself when the time is right and we've bonded more."

"Well you're going to have to do it quicker than you had planned." Claudia replied. "Helen wants to see her, talk to her. And Lester is thinking of just dumping the bombshell on the girl pointblank so he can use her as a bargaining tool with her mother."

"You can't let him do that, Claudia." Nick felt a little desperate. "She's a human being, not a tool. She shouldn't be _used_ like that. She doesn't deserve it, especially not after what she's been through."

"Then you better get over here _now_." Claudia announced with a sigh. "And find a way to get Helen to talk."

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Connor sat on the toilet seat with his laptop while Stephen stood in the middle of the bathroom holding the snake, trying to put it in a sack, and Abby was in front of him, grinning at the unease the manly man wasn't able to completely hide.

"Don't worry." Connor didn't look up from the screen of his computer. "This one's just a baby. Fully grown they can be up to 20 feet long."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better." Stephen announced, sarcasm oozing from every word.

"Are you okay?" Abby announced, laughter obvious in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Stephen nodded stiffly. "Yeah, I love snakes." The snake hissed and Stephen swiftly passed it to Abby. "We're going to need a bigger sack." He then left the room.

Abby was still trying to process how _she'd_ ended up holding the snake. "_Stephen_!"

He returned moments later with a bigger sack, and held the sack for Abby to lower the snake into.

Shooting him a dirty look, Abby did so, and then tied a knot at the top. "Right."

The three of them looked at the bag, seeing the snake squirm violently inside.

Stephen cleared his throat. "Chloe's been gone for a while. She probably can't carry everything back by herself. I'm going to, uh, help her. You two can handle the snake while I'm gone." And with that he left the room.

Abby couldn't believe it.

She turned to look at Connor.

Connor's gaze fell from her to the snake and then back up, snorting. "I'm not touching it."

She glared at him.

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Chloe was trying to figure out how she was going to juggle everything, and her injured hand was burning under the weight of the bag. She'd gone overboard and bought more than necessary, but that was out of guilt for slacking off on the job more than miscalculation. The blonde turned slowly, trying to keep everything balanced, but the bakery bag somehow slipped and would have fallen to the ground...if it hadn't been caught by a hand, a hand whose wrist was decorated by a leather cuff she knew oh so well.

Chloe gulped as her gaze rose up that arm to that shoulder, the neck and then... "Ben."

"It _was_ you." He whispered, just _looking_ at her. "The other day, at the coffee shop. And today, I was visiting a friend who lives in the neighborhood and I saw you and..." He took in a slow, deep breath, looking away before looking back at her, eyes narrowed. "I thought I was hallucinating you. That I was going insane."

What could she say to that?

"You're alive." He noted, so many expressions warring on his face, though hurt was gaining the lead. "How could you do that to us, Chlo? We all-everyone thinks you're _dead. _We mourned you. Was this some sort of sick, cruel joke?"

"_No_." She shook her head rapidly. "_Ben_ you don't understand!"

"_What_ don't I understand?" He glared at her. "Chloe. They thought I'd _killed_ you!"

Her eyes widened in horror. "_What_?"

"I was the last person to see you alive." Ben snapped, anger beginning to seep into his tone. "There wasn't any signs of a struggle. You'd just disappeared. I was their _main suspect_."

"Oh my god." She whispered, unable to believe it, going stone cold. "I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry."

"What _happened_?" The hurt once more overcoming his anger.

"I-" Couldn't tell him.

She'd signed the Official Secrets Act.

And millions of other papers that said this was classified and they could _shoot_ her if she spoke about it.

The blonde closed her eyes tightly, trying to keep back the tears and the sobs.

God.

This was so _unfair_!

"_Chloe_?" Ben whispered, worry creeping into his voice.

She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself as she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ben. I-I can't tell you what happened or why it happened, but it did. And I know its unfair to you and I'm _so sorry_ you and everyone had to go through what you did. You'll never be able to understand just _how_ sorry I am. But it was out of everyone's hands. Even mine. It still is. And I'm _sorry._"

He narrowed his eyes, suspicion in those hazel orbs. "What _happened_ to you, Chlo?"

_I can't tell you_. She wanted to cry, but couldn't. There were just so many things she couldn't do right now. She didn't have the right to.

"I'm sorry for everything." She whispered, sniffling and taking in a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. "But it'll be best for the both of us if we forget this ever happened. We both have lives to get back to and-."

"You don't get to-!"

"Is there a problem, Chlo?" Stephen's voice was like a bail of cold water being thrown over her head as he arrived on the scene, going to stand next to her and glaring at Ben. "Is this man bothering you?"

Her eyes widened as she looked between them.

Suddenly.

Suddenly they both looked _dangerous_.

"No. No he's not." Chloe shook her head rapidly. "I almost dropped my bag from the bakery and he caught it for me."

Stephen raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying the story, but playing along anyway. "Thanks mate." He took the bag from Ben.

"I'm not your mate." Ben narrowed his eyes at Stephen.

Chloe's eyes widened further.

Ben had always been so sweet and puppy dog-like, but now, now he looked like a panther ready to strike.

He then turned his hazel eyes on Chloe. "Is _he_ the reason you left?"

Stephen's eyes widened as he suddenly realized what was going on.

Chloe closed _her_ eyes, wincing. "_No_."

She hadn't wanted anyone from the Home Office knowing that someone from her past knew she was alive. She hadn't wanted them giving Ben trouble. Ben didn't deserve it. He hadn't deserved _anything_ that'd happened to him since he'd met her.

"_Ben_." She whispered, opening her eyes and _knowing_ he could see the pain there. "Let it go."

His expression turned tortured.

She turned to Stephen. "Come on."

Stephen nodded, following after her in silence as she left, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder when he realized she was crying.

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Helen sat at the same table as before, the only difference now was that the only other person in the room was Nick.

"Are they looking after you properly?" He finally asked, sitting down.

"If you cared about that you wouldn't have set me up in the first place." She replied candidly.

"I didn't set you up." Nick frowned before sighing and leaning back in the seat. "You know what? Believe what you like."

She looked around the room, unimpressed. "They're listening to every word, aren't they?"

"I don't know." The blonde looked around as well with less interest. "Most probably."

"Why isn't our daughter here?" Helen asked, though her smile showed she really wasn't asking out of curiosity. "You haven't told her yet, have you, Nick? That she's ours? That she's a Cutter?"

"I'm trying to find a way of telling her that her mother preferred to leave her stranded in time with _strangers _than to bring her back to her right time-to her _father_." Nick just couldn't forgive Helen that, no matter _how much_ he might still care for her.

"Always harping on about that one little detail, Nick, no matter how many times I tell you why I did it." Helen sighed, looking at her nails. "I want my daughter here. I want to talk to her. To tell her everything I told you."

Nick straightened. "Maybe. In time. But not right now."

"I'm her mother." Helen glared.

"You gave that right up when you _gave_ _her_ _up_." Nick snapped.

Realizing she wasn't getting anywhere with those tactics, Helen leaned back in her seat. "I need you to get me out of here, Nick."

"Well, then, tell me what you know." He replied, calming. "Tell me where the anomalies are. Tell me why they're happening. _Then_ maybe I can help you."

She snorted, shaking her head. "Right now, '_why'_ is the least of your worries."

His eyes narrowed. "You see, what does _that_ mean?"

"You want me to help?" Helen asked, leaning forwards on the table. "Alright, I'll help." Her eyes stared deep into his. "Unless you act within the next few hours a pride of sabre-toothed killers will be rampaging through central London." She leaned back with a smirk. "How's _that_ for help?"

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They'd ended up at the park, just sitting on the swings, the bags and cooling coffee at their feet.

"Wanna talk about it?" Stephen finally asked.

"Not really." She wiped at a tear. "Yeah."

He smiled at her. "Which one?"

"Both." She sniffled, looking up at him with her teary eyes. "He was the love of my life. Still is, actually. Which makes this suck _so_ much."

Stephen placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Her lips quivered. "He-he told me they thought he killed me."

Stephen flinched at the revelation.

"I _know_. I love him so much but all I've done is cause him grief!"

"_You_ didn't do this, Chloe. The anomaly did."

"I made the choice to go through the anomaly, Stephen." She whispered, voice breaking. "_I_ did this to him."

Stephen sighed, just rubbing her back soothingly.

"And not only this has me all pathetic..." Chloe wiped at her eyes fiercely. "But I need to talk to Cutter about Helen and I'm chickening out every single time!"

Stephen stiffened. "Yes...I meant to ask you more about what you said that day, but everything was so hectic and..."

Chloe took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I know Helen."

"_How_?" Stephen asked. "I can't figure out _how_ you could know her."

"She-she used to come and visit my family, at my birthdays." Chloe responded. "Sometimes even christmas."

"_What_?" Stephen asked, eyes wide.

"Mom and dad told me she was some distantly related aunt or something. I didn't care, I always loved her visits, they were fun, and she always had the most interesting stories to tell, and presents." Chloe wiped at her eyes. "She's the one who got me interested in investigating the weird and unexplained."

Stephen was silent, obviously deep in thought.

"But the thing is, that she looked identical to how she does now. With the clothes...and everything." Chloe licked her lips. "But that should be impossible, right? I mean. I..."

"When was the last time you saw her?" Stephen wanted to know.

"Hmmm, my twelfth birthday?" Chloe shrugged. "She said I'd see her again later, when the time was right, and that we were going to have a serious conversation. She never came back. My parents didn't know what happened to her."

"Chloe." Stephen frowned at her. "What if Helen's visit had something to do with the anomaly that opened up in your apartment?"

"What?" Chloe frowned. "You mean like she knew the future me or something and knew I'd go through so she went to the past me or something?" The blonde was confused. "That's impossible, Stephen. It would mean she had some way of _controlling_ the anomalies, and I don't think that's possible. It makes more sense that she just ages really good, or that living in the past somehow slowed down her aging, and she visited me before she disappeared without telling Nick."

"I know. You're right." Stephen sighed. "It's just that this makes no sense." He paused. "You need to talk to Cutter about this."

"I know." She whispered. "It's just that everything's so _confusing_ right now."

Stephen sighed and stood, pulling her out of the swing and into his arms and he hugged her.

Chloe clung to him and began to cry.

He held her close, and then stiffened as he realized that, at the very far end of the park, hand clasped tightly on the fence as he watched them, was the man from the bakery.

Oh boy.

Stephen looked down with a wince.

This Ben guy might have just gotten the wrong impression about him and Chloe.

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Nick stood in the observation room above the one where Helen was being held, tapping her fingers impatiently against the table.

He sighed. "Smilodon. Its literal meaning is "knife-tooth". They're up to 3 metres long. They have sabre teeth. They hunt in packs. They're ruthless predators." He paused, sighing. "Now, according to Helen, a large pride has established itself near an anomaly and it's only a matter of time before they find their way through."

"London's a big place." Claudia frowned. "Where exactly is this going to happen?"

"Well, that's your problem." Nick replied, putting his hands up in a 'don't look at me' way. "She won't tell us. She wants to take us there herself."

"It's a trick." Lester decided.

"I agree." Claudia looked down through the plate glass at Helen, who was tapping her feet against the ground, as if to music only she could hear.

"That's possible." Nick had to admit. "But maybe she wants to prove to you that she's not as callous as you imagine."

"Well, she could do that without moving a muscle." Lester grumbled.

"Look, she might well be selfish, but she's not evil." Nick was quick getting annoyed and frustrated with the situation. "I know her."

"You mean you _used_ to know her." Claudia pressed.

"I think I trust her about as far as I can throw a stegosaurus." Lester commented, looking down at the prisoner through the plate glass.

"Okay, then the consequences of doing nothing could be a massacre." Nick announced, throwing his hands in the air with frustration. "I don't know how you explain that to the Tourist Board."

Claudia winced at the prospect since _she_ would be the one doing the explaining.

"Okay _fine_, we'll play her little game. But Ryan will be charged with making sure she doesn't try to use this as a chance to escape." Lester glared at Nick, as if this was all somehow _his_ fault. "And if this is all a hoax. It's no more Mr. Nice Guy."

Nick raised an eyebrow before turning to Claudia. "I'm going to call the team, let them know what's going down."

She nodded, watching him as he turned to leave.

"Oh, and Cutter." Lester called to him.

Nick stopped and took a loud breath before turning back towards Lester.

"I'm having a DNA test done on the Yankee using the samples we have in the lab." Lester informed him, clasping his hands behind his back. "I refuse to go on the word of your wife on this subject."

Nick paused, and then nodded. "The results will come in handy when I need to talk to Chloe." And with that he walked out.

Lester turned to Claudia. "He's convinced the Yankee's his spawn."

"Yeah. He is." Claudia agreed, eyes on the closed door.

Lester snorted. "Well, she's annoying enough to be his." He turned and gave his attention to Helen Cutter, as she paced the room downstairs. "If that was so. She would have experienced the anomaly's magnetic frequency during the entire pregnancy until birth...and then she grew up in a time not her own. A child displaced in time." He paused. "I wonder how that would affect a human being."

Claudia turned to look at him, frowning.

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At the football stadium, while several jeeps pulled up outside, _inside_ Helen walked onto the pitch, followed closely by Captain Ryan, and two of his men, and Nick and Claudia. They glanced around.

"Here?" Claudia made a face.

"Do exactly as I say and this doesn't have to be a disaster." Helen commanded, her gaze going to where Chloe, Stephen, Abby and Connor had just arrived.

Chloe didn't know how to react, seeing the woman she'd known as 'Aunt Helen' after so long, and under these circumstances. Her gaze went to Nick, and then to Helen, conflicted. What should she do? Obviously she couldn't go up to Nick now and tell him, he didn't need to be distracted now that an anomaly was going to open up and allow a pack of hungry carnivores into modern day London. But what if Helen told him first? Would he think she'd deliberately been keeping it from him? Would it make him lose his trust in her? He was an integral part of the team Chloe was slowly turning into her new family, and she didn't want the father figure to distrust and detest her.

This team was all she had left.

She refused to lose it too.

As Helen marched on, the others closely following her, Chloe went to Nick and grabbed his arm, holding him back.

He looked in the direction the others were going before looking down at Chloe. "Something wrong?"

"I know this is the wrong time to be doing this." She took in a deep breath, unable to look him in the face, concentrating on her hand on his arm. "But I need to tell you before she does."

She missed the worried, narrowed eyes on her.

Chloe gulped. "I know Helen. Or. I _knew_ her. Or I...I don't know how to say this." She looked up at him finally, to see his eyes wide, his face pale. It only made her more nervous. "I wasn't hiding it from you on purpose, I just couldn't figure out how to tell you! I mean. I was a kid. She was...some sort of aunt or something. They never explained the british accent or why no one else seemed to know who I was talking about when I talked about her." Chloe was rambling, and she hated it. "But, yeah, until I was around twelve Helen would come to my birthday parties and sometimes at christmas and I thought she was just some odd archaeologist aunt, but I liked her and..." She took in another breath. "She'd bring me these _really_ amazingly preserved dinosaur claws or teeth and...tell me stories about how the creatures would have acted if they were alive and...I _really_ wasn't keeping it a secret from you. I was just in shock. I mean, she disappeared and never visited again and my parents didn't have much to say about it and I forgot, but then Ryan and his men pull her out of the anomaly and I find out _she_'s _your_ _long lost wife _and...and...I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner."

She hung her head, the hand she had holding Nick's arm trembling.

"I don't know what's going on and if she's related to my parents somehow or _what_." She looked up at Nick, and flinched when she saw the conflicted expression on his face. "_Please_ don't get mad Nick! I mean, you and the team, you're the only family I have _left_." She looked away, tears filling her eyes. "_Please_."

Nick opened his mouth, closed it, and repeated that twice before reaching for her and pulling her into a hug. "When this is dealt with, you and I _need_ to have a serious conversation, Chloe. Okay?"

"Okay." She whispered, hugging him back.

Someone cleared his throat nervously.

They turned to see Connor, looking at them uncomfortably.

"Uh, found the anomaly. In the fridge." He announced, scratching the side of his face, looking down and away. "The Smilodon haven't come through yet, though a _bunch_ of the silverware in that kitchen went prehistoric and will leave ruins that archaeologists will one day dig up and _never_ be able to explain scientifically."

Chloe smiled at him and let go of Nick, going to Connor and looping her arm around his. "Lets go."

Connor nodded, looking between her and Nick before leaning in. "Older guys, huh? And here I thought you and Stephen had something going."

Nick slapped Connor up the back of his head as he walked passed them, heading towards the kitchens.

Chloe laughed at Connor, who was pouting. "Big baby."

They followed behind, entering the kitchens in time to hear Helen speaking.

"You have to get rid of the pies! The meat will act like a bait." She tried to rush into the large walk-in fridge, where, to the side of the glowing anomaly, was a shelf filled with meat pies.

Ryan and another soldier grabbed her while Nick went past her into the fridge, followed by Stephen, trying to remove the pies.

Helen turned to Ryan. "Unless you want your meant to be breakfast, I suggest you do something."

Nick passed a box of pies to Stephen, who hurried them out of the way, far from the anomaly.

Ryan shook Helen off and got his men helping with the moving, Abby and Connor joining. "Okay, clear them out."

Chloe failed to notice.

She was entranced by the anomaly, each of its throbs seeming to echo a corresponding one inside of her.

She was dizzy.

She was hot.

And the room seemed brighter.

The blonde clenched her fists.

"You feel it, don't you?"

Chloe jumped, turning to look at Helen, who'd made her way to her side. "_What_?"

"You feel it throbbing as if it were your own heartbeat." Helen smiled. "Everyone else sees it as this _thing_, but you and I, we can sense the _life_ in it."

"What do you want with me?" Chloe finally asked the question she'd been dying to ask since Helen had been captured.

Helen's smile was cunning. "For right now?" And with with a quick movement she had Chloe's back pressed against her front, and a long, sharp dagger pressed up against her throat. "I want you to help me escape."

Chloe gave a little scream, causing everyone to turn towards them.

Nick's eyes widened in horror. "_Helen_!"

Ryan and his men aimed their guns at them.

"Nuh-uh-uh." Helen singsonged. "Put them down and kick them away, _now_."

Chloe hissed as the blade of the dagger dug into her the skin of her neck.

"Do as she says!" Nick ordered.

Ryan's gaze went to Claudia.

The redhead nodded.

"Do as she says, men." Captain Ryan ordered his men, doing so himself.

"What are you _doing_?" Stephen snapped at Helen.

Chloe stayed deadly still, terrified to move one little bit and accidentally cut herself.

"Now move away from the anomaly. That's right. Just like that." Helen watched them do as told, before lowering the dagger and grabbing Chloe's arm, dragging her through the anomaly with her.

Chloe cried out at the electric shock as they passed the anomaly and fell through to the other side. The females rolled down a small hill, thunder echoing in the skies above.

When they came to a stop, Chloe looked up towards the anomaly they'd come from.

It was gone.

It'd closed.

_No_.

She was going to die.

She was-she was...

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Helen asked in awe, standing and brushing herself off.

Chloe turned towards her captor and would have been more afraid if it wasn't for the sight before her.

They were in the middle of what her mind could only think of as the spaghetti junction of anomalies. There were at _least_ seven of them open in the area, all leading to different places and times.

"_Wow_." She whispered, standing slowly, her body shaking slightly with the combined throbs of the anomalies. "It's..._incredible_."

For a moment in time, her fear was gone.

She looked around. "There...there isn't one sabre-toothed cat in sight."

"You caught me." Helen chuckled. "Not even a kitten."

"So it was a lie. All a means to escape."

"And to see you." Helen replied, surprising her with the sincerity in her tone. "I wanted to see you, and yet they were keeping you from me. But you're a part of the research team. If I was to tell them of the anomaly, and _take _them there, you'd be there as well."

Very cunning.

And confusing.

"Why did you want to see me? Who are you really?" Chloe asked, having nothing to lose anymore. "Why did you used to come and see me when I was a child?"

So many questions.

Helen smiled at her, putting away her dagger. "Sorry about threatening you, but I needed them to believe I'd hurt you so we could escape together." She shook her head. "Nick should have known better. Shame on him." She walked towards Chloe before reaching out slowly and touching her face. "As _if_ a mother could hurt her own child."

Chloe looked at her, eyes wide. "_What_?"

Helen took a couple of steps back, hand outstretched. "Come with me, Chloe. Nick should have told you the truth when he found out." She smiled, wriggling her fingers. "Take my hand, and I'll tell you everything."

Chloe looked back behind her, where the anomaly used to be, before turning back to Helen. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Taking in a deep breath, the blonde took a couple of steps forwards and placed her hand in Helen's.

Helen grinned and clasped her fingers around Chloe's hand. "Smart girl."

And with that she pulled Chloe behind her through yet another anomaly.

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"It's _gone_, Cutter." Ryan announced, confused, like the others, as to why Nick Cutter had seemed to shut down the moment the anomaly had closed up behind Helen and Chloe. They knew that Cutter had been searching for his wife for eight years and that losing her again must have stung, but they couldn't understand _why_ it'd affected him as intensely as for him to fall to his knees in such obvious grief.

"Oh Nick, I'm _so sorry._" Claudia whispered, tears in her eyes.

"What-what just happened?" Connor stuttered, unable to understand, unable to believe.

"What if she hurts her?" Abby whispered.

"She won't hurt her." Nick whispered from where he sat on the floor where the anomaly had once been.

"I know you think you know her because she's your wife, sir." Ryan narrowed his eyes. "But that woman's clearly dangerous."

"She won't hurt her." Nick brought his hands to his face. "She wouldn't hurt Chloe. Not _Chloe_."

Stephen narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why not _Chloe_, Nick? What makes her so special to Helen?"

Abby, Connor and Tom Ryan turned to look at Stephen in confusion.

Nick pulled his hands from his face, and turned to look at his best friend. "Because she's our daughter."

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**Review?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval/Smallville**

**Chapter 5/6**

**Wanna thank VERONICA, VAMP1987, WEE-ME, BANANA FLAVORED ESKIMO, NINDIRA, DARKWOLFYINGFA, and ISIS04 for reviewing the previous chapter.**

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_ "_Isn't this wonderful?" Helen asked with a smile, turning towards her daughter as the sun began to slowly rise in the sky, painting its its canvas a vast array of majestic colors.

Chloe didn't want to be awed.

She didn't want to be enchanted.

But she was.

She _really_ was.

The blonde sat on the large boulder, staring at the herd of Diplodocus grazing below.

Helen had told her that they were in the Late Jurassic Period, and then had let the landscape speak for itself.

She'd been doing this ever since Chloe had become her hostage, so to speak. The incident in the stadium had occurred a couple of days ago.

Or maybe it was years, hundreds of years.

The last time Chloe had stepped through an anomaly it's seemed like seconds to her, while it'd been two years to the rest of the world.

It terrified her to think how much time might have passed on the other side _this_ time.

"I must admit some fondness to the Diplodocus." Helen announced, sitting down next to Chloe, smiling as she gazed at the animals mentioned. "They're always so serene."

Chloe looked at the woman who claimed to be her mother-who claimed to have left her in the past so that she could age quicker, and be an adult who could travel with her throughout the anomalies, discovering the vast unknown together. The blonde really didn't know what to think. On one hand she really resented this woman who'd made so many important decisions in her and Nick's life without thinking of either of them. But on the other hand, Chloe could grudgingly understand how Helen had fallen so madly in love with time travel.

These last couple of days had been constant travel from one era to another, and each one seemed more addictive than the previous. And it was as if every time Chloe went through an anomaly-it became more _alive_ to her. Every single trip there would be an electric shock, white and hot, but with that shock it was as if she'd connect with the anomaly, feel its pulsations as her own.

It was a heady experience.

"So, do you have anyone important to you, on the other side?" Helen asked, gaze on the Diplodocus.

"Yes." Chloe didn't even know why she was answering. "No." She looked away and took in a deep breath. "There was once someone. Someone I loved more than I thought I could love." The blonde scratched at an itch in her cheek. "My first trip through the anomaly destroyed any chance of a future our relationship might have had."

There was silence.

And then a sigh.

"I can relate to that."

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There was a Manor house at the golf course, with an ambulance parked outside and a Special Forces soldier running towards it.

Claudia Brown didn't know what to do. After Helen had in essence kidnapped Chloe two weeks ago Nick had been in a depression, a very _dangerous_ depression. He wasn't sleeping, he wasn't eating, he seemed closer to Jack Daniels than to any of them other than Stephen, and he was becoming even more obsessed with his work, with the anomalies. Claudia had been so _relieved_ that one hadn't opened up since Chloe's abduction, because she hadn't know how Nick would be able to handle it, but one had opened, of course, and now they were trying to do what it was they did.

And keep an eye on Nick.

So that when they _did_ find the anomaly he didn't try to go _through_ it looking for his wife and daughter.

"Where's the golfer's body?" She asked Captain Ryan, shaking her head of those troubling thoughts for now.

"In the casualty clearance centre in the main house." He replied.

"Are there any more victims?" _God don't let there be anymore victims_.

"None we know of."

"Good." She nodded, feeling a sharp pang of relief. "Keep me briefed."

Ryan moved off, and Claudia approached Nick and Stephen, who were talking to the man who'd found the body, and was apparently being treated for shock. As they saw her approach, they finished talking to the man and moved off towards her.

"What did he see?" She wanted to know.

"All was finished by the time he got here." Nick replied.

"Have you found the anomaly yet?" Claudia asked, swatting at a fly.

"Well, we're not absolutely sure there is one yet." The blonde announced tersely. "And I need to see the victim."

Stephen looked between them before going back to talk to the man they'd been speaking to moments ago.

"What do you plan on doing when you find the anomaly?" Claudia decided to ask point blank, never one for beating around the bush. "You can't go after her, you know. You can't know for certain that it's the one she was pulled into. You'll just get lost and killed."

"She's my _daughter_." Nick snapped at Claudia. "I'm not letting the anomalies steal _her_ _too_."

Claudia's heart wanted to soften at those words, but she bristled up intentionally.

He needed this.

"I know that, we all do, and we can't really understand what you're going through." She took in a deep breath. "But you have to concentrate on your job. Chloe's fine. She's been through the anomaly before and came out unscratched. And I doubt that Helen will allow anything to happen to her. So I need you to focus on the job at hand before other innocent people get hurt, okay?"

Nick looked like he wanted to argue, before just sighing and nodding. "Okay."

She felt minutely better.

"Look, I think I should warn you." The redhead looked around them, feeling somewhat paranoid. "Lester's getting impatient. Think's you cause more problems than you solve."

"What do you think?"

Very good question. "I think it would be helpful if I could show him we're making some kind of progress."

"Or what?" Nick's eyes narrowed.

"Or it becomes difficult."

"Look, Lester doesn't own this." Nick snapped. "The government doesn't own this. If you really want to help, keep him off my back."

She flinched. "Please don't make me take sides, Nick."

He glared at her and walked away.

"Great." She whispered to herself as she watched him leave. "Just great."

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"What are they _doing_?" Chloe asked from their perch upon the tree whose fruit they were having for breakfast.

"Head-butting." Helen replied easily. "Male pachycephalosaurs sometimes do that for the right to rule the herd."

Chloe took a bite out of the fruit and chewed as she wiped at the juice trailing down her chin before swallowing. "They remind me of mountain goats."

"That they do." Helen agreed, taking a bite out of her fruit.

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Inside the room, a Special Forces soldier placed a sheet over the victim's body, which Nick and Claudia had been looking had.

Claudia looked away, feeling her breakfast warring with her stomach.

"He's been torn to shreds." The medic announced, looking up at them.

"Its almost _surgical_ the way the flesh has been torn away to cleanly." Nick commented, seeming unfazed by the sight. "There's no wastage."

"Any idea what might have done this?" The redhead asked, refusing to turn to look at them once more, still queasy.

"A creature of devastating power and savagery, to do just that in a few minutes." Nick announced, finally turning to face her. "There's one thing for sure. It came through an anomaly." His eyes narrowed. "The first thing we have to do is find that."

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"What're they?" Chloe couldn't hide the fear and excitement in her voice during this most inappropriate of times.

Since hunters usually hunted by scent, it was very important to keep clean, and Helen had taken her to this river to bathe. The brunette had gone first, quite happy to swim around and bathe, but Chloe had been much more fearful, keeping an eye on the creatures in the water with her. And she was glad that she had. Otehrwise she doubted Helen would have told her about the dolphin-looking creatures swimming behind her. They had long jaws with numerous teeth, eyes set within a ring of bony place, and were probably 6 ft plus inches long.

In other words they were _really_ bigger than she was.

"They're Stenopterygius. Don't worry about them. They eat fish, shellfish, and other invertebrates." Helen smiled, seeming amused. "You don't fit the category. Though they might get curious and swim a little closer to get a better view of you."

"The _hell_ they will." Chloe climbed out of the water, having finished bathing anyway. The blonde hurried to her clothes and shimmied into them despite still being wet, pulling on her boots rapidly, keeping an eye on the world around her.

"You'll lose that constant wariness in time." Helen announced conversationally, watching her.

Chloe stopped trying to wring the water out of her hair, and turned towards Helen. "I'm not going to be here long enough for that to happen."

Mother and daughter just stared at each other, silent.

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Nick stood in the middle of a field, looking around him, eyes narrowed.

Stephen and Abby walked up to him.

"No trampled or broken vegetation." Stephen informed, wiping at beads of sweat on his forehead. "No track marks and no signs of any anomaly, but there is one hell of a magnetic field, so it's got to be here somewhere." He frowned. "Unless there's a pylon causing interference."

"Can't see anything." Abby shrugged.

"Be quiet and let me think here." Nick snapped, before his eyes widened. "_Quiet_!"

"We didn't say anything." Abby pouted.

"No, I mean it's too quiet." Nick turned to them. "Listen. There's no birdsong."

Abby looked around her, eyes widening. "Not a peep."

Stephen's eyes narrowed. "They're scared off."

"What would scare the birds away?" Nick frowned, looking all around him, before suddenly grinning. "You were wrong, it's not a pylon. There _is_ an anomaly."

Stephen, who was still scanning the area, frowned. "Where?"

Nick snorted as he looked straight upwards. "We're standing right underneath it."

Abby and Stephen exchanged looks before gazing upwards and gasping when they saw the anomaly quite a way above them.

"It's an aerial predator." Stephen whispered.

"Wow." Abby blinked.

"Yeah, that's one way of putting it." Nick brought his hand to his forehead to try and shield his gaze against the glare. "Now how the _hell_ do we cordon off the sky?"

Sensing movement, Stephen looked to the side. "Cutter."

"I mean," Nick was still looking up at the anomaly. "This thing could be anywhere by now."

Abby joined Stephen, looking at the creature flying towards them.

Nick was still looking in the wrong direction.

Abby's mouth fell open.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Stephen replied in answer to Nick's comment.

Abby threw herself to the ground the same time Stephen tackled Nick as the creature dove at them, screeching.

It glided over them, trying for them with its claws and yet coming short, soaring back up into the air.

Stephen laid down on his back, looking up at the sky. "So, not so hard to find then."

Abby chuckled as they got back up and Nick pulled out a pair of binoculars, eyeing the creature. "What is it?"

"Pterodactyloid pterosaur." Nick replied automatically. "It's probably a pteranodon."

"Is it what killed the golfer?" The pixie-ish girl wanted to know.

"I'd say it's definitely in the frame." Stephen replied, eyes on the creature soaring above them in the air.

"Well," Nick frowned. "Pteranodon was supposed to have mainly eaten small reptiles and fish."

"Probably just snacking until humans came along." Stephen mumbled under his breath.

"Why's it circling?" Abby wanted to know.

"Looking for a roost?" Stephen hazarded a guess.

"Well, it's spoilt for choice." Nick snorted. "Well, it's certainly looking for _something_."

Stephen's eyes narrowed as he noticed movement at the other end of the fairway. "Is that..._Connor_?"

"What?" Nick turned to Stephen.

"Connor." Stephen pointed to where their belated member had just appeared, but seemed to be following something on the ground.

How odd.

"What's he _doing_?" Abby wanted to know, taking a couple of steps forwards.

"More importantly," Nick's gaze returned to the creature. "What's our friend up _there_ doing?"

Stephen's eyes widened. "He's not looking for a roost. He's looking for _lunch_."

Abby turned towards Connor at those words, the man in the distance still having his back towards them. "CONNOR! CONNOR!"

"COME HERE, QUICKLY!" Stephen yelled.

"RYAN!" Nick called into the radio. "Come quickly!"

Apparently having heard voices, Connor turned to see the creature swooping towards him.

"GET INTO THE TREES!" Abby screamed.

"RUN YOU IDIOT!" Stephen yelled.

They didn't know if Connor could hear what was being said, but he turned and began making a mad dash towards the trees.

"Cover it!" Ryan shouted as he, Claudia, and some of his men arrived.

"Oh, no." Claudia whispered in horror as she watched the creature gain on Connor. "Shoot it!"

"No, wait a minute." Nick pulled away the binoculars to turn to them. "There's something about this that doesn't add up. I'm just not entirely sure what it is yet."

Claudia ignored him, eyes on Ryan." Do it."

"No!" Nick snapped, throwing down the binoculars. "We should only kill these creatures when there's absolutely no other choice!"

"Choice? What other choice?" The redhead snapped back at him. "In a matter of seconds, Connor's going to be ripped to shreds!"

"We can't take that chance." Stephen turned to Nick.

Claudia retuned her gaze to Ryan. "Follow your orders, Captain."

"Yes, ma'am." Ryan nodded, firing as the pteranodon closed in on Connor, but Nick pushed Ryan, causing him to miss.

"_Nick_." Claudia growled.

Ryan fired again, but missed once more, lowering his weapon. "It's out of range."

Just as the pteranodon was about to reach Connor, he jumped down an incline and it missed, flying away.

"_Really_ wish you hadn't done that." Claudia turned to Nick, eyes narrowed in fury. "_God_ knows _how_ many people you've just condemned to death."

Nick wasn't listening to her, looking through his binoculars again, to where Connor was lying. "Wait a minute. There's a lizard with him."

Claudia frowned, her anger morphing into confusion. "A lizard?"

The blonde nodded. "Salurosorophus."

Abby's eyes widened in horror. "He let Rex escape!"

Everyone turned to look at the pixie-ish female

"What have you done?" Claudia snapped.

"You _kept_ him?" Nick asked.

"No. Yeah." Abby took in a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. He came back through the anomaly before it closed. I-I was just looking after him."

"What do you think we're doing here? Running some kind of private zoo?" Claudia hissed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

Abby lowered her head. "I'm sorry, guys."

Connor began jogging towards them, brushing the sand off of his hat.

Nick turned to Claudia. "Now, we don't know enough about the creature yet."

"Lester was right." The redhead shook her head at them. "You people are a _menace_. What do you think we're doing here, Nick? Playing some kind of game?"

"Nobody's taking this more seriously than we are." Nick hissed dangerously. "_Nobody_."

Stephen looked between them, sensing the danger there. "Look, it's wounded, okay? So it's not going to go far. It needs to roost."

"I hope you're right. For all our sakes." Claudia then turned to Ryan. "Come on."

Connor reached them as Claudia and the soldiers left.

"She's got a point." Stephen was careful to point this out only after the redhead was out of hearing.

"Look, I'm not being sentimental." Nick turned to his colleague and best friend. "There were good reasons for not killing the creature."

"And you're _sure_ about that?" Stephen narrowed his eyes slightly.

"No, of course I'm not sure!" Nick snapped, running a shaky hand over his head. "I've probably just made the biggest mistake of my life!" He then took in a deep breath before trying once more in a more level voice. "Just a hunch, that's all.

Connor grinned, finally putting on his hat. "Well, that was a bit of a laugh wasn't it?"

Nick glared at the young man. "Silly arse."

Connor blinked. "What?"

Nick and Abby both gave Connor dirty looks and walked away.

Abby fell into step with Nick, sighing, head bent. "I just didn't want Rex to be locked up. Poked and prodded by Lester's people." She stopped walking and looked up imploringly at the leader. "Can I keep him?"

Nick looked at her before sighing and shaking his head. "You'd better bloody _find_ him first."

Her face broke out into a smile.

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White, pure, life.

Chloe's whole body hummed, throbbed, tingled.

And then she was out on the other side, taking in a deep breath and looking around her.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around her as the anomaly closed behind them.

She wondered why these anomalies seemed to close the minute they went through, and didn't stay active like the ones in the present.

Helen looked around her, gazing at the plant life, at the smaller creatures, and then up at the sky, before turning to Chloe. "I'm not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say the Cretaceous Period."

The period before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Hearing an agonized wail, Chloe moved away from Helen and peered down into the bushes.

There she found the bloody remains of a small, three-foot long dinosaur.

And beside it, a tiny baby, head no bigger than a golf ball, stood crying.

"We need to go." Helen looked around her, nervous. "That thing's cry is going to attract a predator even if the blood didn't."

"We can't just leave it here." Chloe turned to Helen, eyes narrowed. "It will be _killed_."

"That's how the world is, Chloe. Kill or be killed. Everything dies." Helen replied coldly.

"Well, _my mother_ taught me to help the weak, _not_ watch them go extinct." The blonde replied coldly, going slowly towards the cadaver and crying baby. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

The small, four-legged baby whimpered and took some steps back.

It was an odd looking creature. The skull had a short, low snout that was topped by a nasal 'boss', or bump, rather than a horn. The neck frill was triangular and very short, and it had no openings. It had only ten grinding teeth in each jaw, and no teeth in its beak. An unusual thing was that it had a large opening on each side of its snout.

"Come on, come on." Chloe went to her knees, hands outstretched, wriggling her fingers invitingly at the creature. "Yes, that's a good baby."

The creature slowly made its way towards her fingers, sniffing.

It could smell the fruit she'd had for breakfast.

Reaching slowly into her pocket with her other hand, Chloe pulled out a peel from it that she'd kept for when she got back to try and figure out _what_ the fruit was, Chloe offered it to the baby, who devoured it with a happy little sound before wagging its tail much like a dog would. The baby sniffed around her some more, and when she picked it up, it gave minimal struggle, making a weird grunting sound until it calmed down against her heartbeat. The blonde smiled down at the baby, rubbing its head soothingly, before looking up at Helen.

The brunette was watching her in fascination.

"We should get far from here." Chloe announced, holding the baby to her heart as she began to walk away. "The blood and its cries will have attracted some predators no doubt. We don't want to be here when they get here."

Helen watched her go with a smirk before following. "What do you plan on doing with it? It's going to grow to around 3 feet you know. You can't just keep it."

"Why not?" Chloe asked. "I have an empty flat I'm determined to make my home. I wanted a pet." She caressed the top of the baby's beak. "I just got one."

Helen paused. "The flat."

Chloe turned towards her. "Yes. The flat. In the present." She steeled her expression. "Which you're going to take me to." Her eyes narrowed. "_Now_."

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"Pteranodon hunted from high vantage points." Nick announced, sharing a look with Stephen as he spoke to Ryan and Claudia. "Cliff tops, mountains, anywhere that gave it a good sight of potential prey."

"We need to be looking at all the highest points within a couple of miles." Stephen agreed.

Ryan received a message on his radio and pointed to the laptop. "Real-time images are coming through now."

Stephen zoomed in on a satellite imagine, until the pteranodon could be seen, resting on top of a building in the city. "There it is."

"Got it." Nick smiled.

"Office building less than a mile away." Ryan looked up. "Should be empty on a Saturday." He turned to his men. "Let's go!"

Nick turned to Stephen, expression serious. "We've got to get there first."

Stephen closed his laptop and stood.

Claudia watched and quickly followed Nick and Stephen into the 4x4 while Ryan and the soldier got into jeeps and set off.

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In the woods, Abby and Connor were still looking for Rex.

"Rex!" Abby called.

_ "_Rexy! Come on mate." Connor was by her side. "Come to Daddy!"

"You don't leave here until you find him." Abby snapped as she turned to Connor, still pissed that not only had he let Rex escape from the flat, but he'd nearly gotten the lizard eaten...and now Rex was lost.

"Sorry." Connor repeated once more, desperation on his face. "I can't think how he got out. Abby, look. I _am_ sorry."

"If anything happens to him, I'll…" She shoved her finger into his face violently. "Uh! Just find him!"

"I'm finding him, I'm finding him."

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Nick, Claudia and Stephen pulled up outside the office building. Thanks to Nick's incredibly reckless driving they'd somehow managed to get there before Ryan and his men.

"We should wait for Ryan." Claudia announced, nervous.

Stephen pulled out a rather large gun from the back of the van as they turned and headed towards the building.

"What's that?" Claudia asked, her high heels tapping loudly as they entered the building.

"A tranquilizer gun."

"No way." She shook her head.

"It could take out about 5 of those up there." Nick tried to assure her as they headed towards the roof.

"I'm not taking any more chances. I want it dead." The redhead glared at him.

"Oh, just humour me." The blonde announced.

"What?" She glared.

"Have I ever let you down?" Nick asked, and then seeing her expression he quickly cut her off before she could speak. "Don't answer that. Just trust me, please."

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" She asked, exasperated.

"Look, we're in unknown territory here. I don't know. The only thing that I know is killing these creatures without good reason is not the answer."

Claudia glared at him before sighing. "You've got until Ryan gets here. One chance, one shot."

Nick and Stephen exchanged looks before racing down the corridor ahead of Claudia.

Stephen gave Nick a little look. "Never thought she'd buy that."

Nick returned the look. "Neither did I."

The pteranodon was perched on the edge of the roof.

The three of them climbed up a ladder onto the highest part of the roof.

Stephen aimed his gun, but the pteranodon took off before he could shoot_._

"Damn it!" Nick cursed.

The pteranodon circled the building.

Running his hand over his hair as he looked up at the creature, Nick's mind raced, and then he paused.

"Look." He turned to Stephen. "We're going to have to find a way to bring here back into range. You see the red crest on the top of her head? Red. That's it." He turned to Claudia. "I need your shirt."

"_What_?" She gasped, horrified.

"Your shirt." Nick repeated, wondering why her face was going so red.

"Come on." She was unable to look at it. "It's magenta."

"It's close enough." He shrugged.

"It's nothing like red." She protested.

Nick ignored her, running across the roof.

Claudia glared at his back and very unwillingly started to unbutton her shirt.

Stephen turned around and handed her the gun. "Wait. Forget about this. You owe me one." He began to unbutton his shirt, allowing the red undershirt he was wearing to peek out.

Claudia sighed in relief, holding the gun awkwardly.

Nick grabbed a metal pole, while Ryan's men start pouring in the building at the bottom. The blonde ignored what was going on below, tying Stephen's red shirt to the end while Stephen pulled back on his other shirt and Claudia happily passed him back the gun.

"You good?" Nick turned to Stephen.

Stephen nodded.

Taking in a deep breath, Nick whistled to get the pteranodon's attention, and started waving the pole while Stephen took aim.

Claudia backed away as the creature began to fly towards them.

"Right." Nick cleared his throat as the creature kept coming quicker. "In your own time."

Stephen's first shot missed, despite the pteranodon being in his gun sight. "The wind took it."

"Yup. Try again." Nick gulped. "Quick as you like there, Stephen."

Stephen's second shot also missed. "Damn thing keeps moving."

"Yep." Nick's voice squeaked as the pteranodon grew closer and closer. "That's what they do."

"This time. Come on, fellow." Stephen took aim once more.

"Stephen, shoot it." NIck hissed, looked from the creature to Stephen and back. "Stephen, for God's sake, will you _shoot_ it?"

Claudia started to move back in panic.

Stephen waited until the pteranodon was right on top of them before he shot, finally hitting it.

The dinosaur rolled across the rooftop, backing Claudia further against the wall.

There it lay, unconscious.

"You see that?" Nick grinned.

Stephen shouldered his gun. "What are we going to do with it?"

"Take it back to the anomaly site." Nick replied, slapping Stephen on the shoulders. "Send it back."

"That's _it_ Cutter!" Claudia snapped from where she was trapped between the wall and the unconscious creature. "No more favours. From now on we do this my way! _I _take the decisions."

The pteranodon, not quite as unconscious as it first appeared, screeched and flailed, hitting the redhead over the head with its beak, knocking her out before it fell completely prey to the tranquilizers.

Stephen and Nick exchanged looks.

Nick snorted, unable to keep the amusement off of his face. "_Whoops_."

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Connor and Abby were _still_ searching.

"Rex!" Connor called. "Where are you, dude?"

Abby glared at him. "Do you think he's going to send up a distress flare or something?"

Connor turned to her. "He knows the sound of my voice. I'm thinking he might come running."

"He's a _lizard_, Connor, _not_ a Golden Retriever!" Abby snapped, anger and worry mixing deep inside of her. "This is ridiculous. He could be anywhere."

Rex ran across the path in front of them.

"Rex?" Connor blinked before turning to Abby who was looking back at him with the same shocked expression on her face.

Wordlessly they ran after the lizard.

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"Think this over, Chloe." Helen announced, eyes on the blonde. "Think of what I'm offering you."

"I am. Helen. I _am_." Chloe held the surprisingly enough sleeping baby Bagaceratops in her arms. "But _you_ need to understand something. You can't just _abandon_ me in the wrong time, away from my _real father_ and then come back years later and expect everything to be peachy and go your way. I lost two years of my life to the anomalies, and a lifetime with my father. The anomaly completely disrupted the life I had, and I'm not going to allow that to happen another time. Not when I'm just trying to fix the mess my life is right now. I have things I have to do, people I need to talk to, things that need to be made right." She took in a deep breath. "I need time to fix things, time to think it over."

Helen paused, tilting her head to the side. "So you're not rejecting the idea."

"No. This is-this is beautiful and amazing and I'd be stupid to just pass up the opportunity without a second thought. I'm not doing that." Chloe replied truthfully. "I'm saying, don't _kidnap_ me and expect me to make my decisions then. I need time to do things, I need time to think things over, and I need time to talk to Nick." She hefted the baby Bagaceratops a little higher in her arms. "You already kept me from Nick once, Helen. I would never forgive you for doing it a second time."

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Claudia was lying unconscious on a bed in a room in the Manor on the golf course, wearing an oxygen mask.

Nick stood by the window, looking out, thinking about the anomaly and wondering where it led.

And if his daughter was there.

Suddenly Claudia shot up and jumped out of the bed, knocking a pouch of blood off of a trolley and bursting it all over her shoes.

Jarred by the sound, Nick turned towards her and moved towards Claudia as she got up.

"It's okay. It's okay." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Nothing's wrong."

"What happened?" Claudia asked, voice shaken.

"You took a knock." He reminded her.

"Where am I?"

"In the hotel on the grounds." Nick replied as the medic who'd shown them the victim's body earlier entered.

The medic walked over and picked up the bursted bag of blood, making a face at the pool it left on the floor, before turning to Claudia. "Easy. Let's see how you're doing. What's your name and how old are you?"

Nick picked up something from the medic's kit.

"Claudia Brown," Claudia cleared her throat. "And I have no intention of telling you."

Nick smirked.

So did the medic. "I'll do some tests at the hospital, but I think it's nothing worse than a mild concussion. Getting low on oxygen. I've got another bottle in the ambulance. I'd better get it just in case." He left the room, still carrying the bursted bag of blood.

"Sit up." Nick ordered.

The redhead cautiously got back onto the bed while Nick shone a light in her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I have absolutely no idea, but I've seen them do it on ER, so there must be something in it. How are you feeling."

"Okay." She cleared her throat.

"Any nausea?" Nick asked, trying to remember the questions he'd seen on the telly.

"No."

"Any headache?"

"No."

"Does anything feel odd at all?"

There was a pause. "Just the one thing."

"What?" Nick asked, eyes narrowing in worry.

Claudia took in a deep breath. "I can't see anything."

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Having finally caught up with Rex, who was perched on a log, Connor and Abby paused for breath.

"Rex!"

"Rex!"

Connor then frowned. "What's he looking at?"

Rex jumped off of the log and got behind it, as if he was trying to hide.

Sharing a worried look, Abby and Connor slowly turned around.

The tree behind them was full of small pterosaurs.

Abby's eyes widened.

Connor gulped and with a slow motion he moved so that he was standing somewhat in front of Abby, his back to her.

Her blue eyes widened at this action.

One of the creature sniffed something in the air, and then suddenly they were all airborne.

"Get down!" Connor turned and tackled Abby to the ground, covering her body with his as the creature flew passed them, one stealing Connor's hat on the way.

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Stephen, Ryan and some soldiers were with the pteranodon, which was wrapped in sheets and strapped to the back of a trailer.

"I wouldn't get too close if I were you." Ryan cautioned Stephen, holding his beloved M4 ever closer. "That thing could come around at any time."

"She's going to be out for hours." Stephen shook off the concern.

Suddenly there was a rumbling noise as the pteranodon's bowels released its waste.

The soldiers wrinkled their noses.

"Oh, nice." Ryan sneered.

Stephen chuckled at their expressions. "You have _no idea_ how revealing dung can be." Stephen swiped his finger through some, sniffing it. "You can learn a _lot_ from an animal's waste. It's exciting stuff."

The soldiers made their disgust known as Stephen tasted the dung.

Ryan couldn't watch and looked away. "That's just not right."

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Abby and Connor hadn't moved from their position on the woods floor.

"Abby," Connor blinked, tilting his head upwards in disbelief, finding all of the small predators gone. "Are we alive?"

"We're alive." She confirmed in a slightly breathless way.

"That's a good thing." He decided with a grin before looking down at Abby, and realizing the compromising position they found themselves in. The smile melted into an awed expression as he cleared his throat and looked down at her. "Uhm, uh, _hi_."

"Hi." She whispered back.

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"Temporary blindness is a symptom of mild concussion." Nick tried to comfort her. "You're going to be fine."

"Right." Claudia didn't sound very comforted.

"Trust me. I'm a doctor." He paused. "Well, I'm a professor, but it's nearly the same thing." He cleared his throat. "Do you see anything at all?"

"Um … A little. It's getting better."

"See?" He patted her shoulder. "It'll be back in no time." His mobile rang and he answered it. "Stephen?"

"_Listen, you know that hunch of yours_?" Stephen asked. "_You were right. Old leather face didn't kill the golfer. The beak, it's all wrong. The dung is the clincher_."

Nick smiled. "Let me guess. No human remains."

"_Exactly_." Stephen confirmed. "_All I found was a few small reptiles and some fish bones. That's all."_

"Exactly what I thought." Nick grinned at Claudia. "It wasn't Connor it was after, it was _Rex_."

Claudia blinked at the revelation.

"_Yeah_." Stephen confirmed.

Nick's phone beeped. "Stephen, listen, I'm going to have to call you back. My phone's out of juice."

"_Okay_."

Nick hung up the phone call and turned to Claudia. "Did you catch any of that?"

"The pteranodon is innocent." The redhead sighed. "What do you want me to do? Pay compensation? You have to admit it, you made a lucky guess."

"No you're missing my point." He frowned. "If the pteranodon didn't kill the golfer, then _what_ did?"

The sound of the medic screaming outside caused them both to jerk.

"What was that?" Claudia's voice was whispery, her face pallid.

"I don't know." Nick whispered back. "Look, give me your phone."

"It's in my bag." Claudia gulped. "In the car."

Nick closed the patio doors and the doors leading to the other rooms. "All right. I have to get to a phone."

"Nick, don't leave me!" Claudia cried.

"It's okay. I'm still here." He comforted. "Just keep calm. All we have to do is keep all the windows and all the doors shut. And we'll be fine. There'll be nothing to worry about. And we'll be just fine." Nick ran out of the room to the main doors of the house, which were still open. He closed them, catching a glimpse of a flock of small winged creatures circled above the house. He then returned to the room where he'd left Claudia. "Okay. Listen, there has to be a phone around here somewhere. Now, you're going to be okay, because nothing can get in here. It's going to be okay." He hurried upstairs and tried the phone on the landing, but it wasn't working.

Hearing the sound of screaming down below, Nick frowned and hurried downstairs. He found Claudia on the ground, apparently having slipped on the blood that'd pooled on the ground from the bag she'd bursted earlier, and the redhead had managed to cover herself in said blood in her struggled to get up. The pterosaurs were throwing themselves against the windows, breaking them. One finally began to make its way through the broken glass into the room as Nick pulled the blood covered Claudia to her feet.

Nick pulled Claudia out of the room and closed the door in time to hear the creature hit the wood.

Hard.

"GO! Keep going!" Nick urged. "Keep going!"

"They just went crazy. I slipped in the blood and then…"

"It's the blood, the can smell the blood."

"Like piranhas." Claudia whispered in horror. "Oh, God. Have I got much on me?"

"Um, a bit, yeah." He admitted, not about to sugarcoat things for her. He respected her more than that. "Give me your top."

She gave a mirthless laugh. "It's getting to be a little bit of a habit."

"What?" Nick blinked. "Asking for your clothes, or getting us attacked?"

"Both."

Silently they took off their outer shirts.

Above, the flock began tapping on the skylight.

"Oh, God."

The pterosaurs got through, and glass raining down on Nick and Claudia.

Closely followed by the flock. Nick pushed Claudia out of the room and closed the door behind them. He guided her to a chair, then checked the windows.

"There's got to be a phone around here somewhere." He announced, trying to stay calm. Trying to think. "Okay, I think that there's one in the ambulance."

"You're going to go and get it?" Fear obviously in her voice.

"Yeah. You're going to be safe here."

"What about you?" She whispered.

"You know, I think I can make it." And Nick couldn't rightly understand why he did it, but he grabbed Claudia Brown and kissed her. "I'll be back in a minute."

Claudia stood there, eyes wide in shock.

Nick left the room and headed through the gardens.

He heard squawking, and turned to see the flock of pterosaurs flew over the house towards him. He raced to the ambulance and got in, closing the doors behind him.

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Connor and Abby emerged from the trees with Rex wrapped in Abby's jacket.

They froze when they saw the house in the distance, and the pterosaur flock circling it.

Connor ran his hand over his hair. "Oh, man."

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In the front of the ambulance, searching through everything frantically, before finally finding what must have been the medic's cellular. He quickly dialed Ryan, counting the rings and shaking his leg.

"Hello?" Ryan's voice was like mana from heaven.

"Ryan! Ryan, it's Nick Cutter! We're being attacked by a swarm of pterosaurs. Claudia's trapped in the hotel."

"Just sit tight."

"Yeah, I'll sit tight. Yeah. Hurry up!"

Nick plundered the ambulance. He found a lighter on the dashboard, and pulled a burns kit out of a cupboard.

"Yes, very funny, very funny." He paused, pulling out a full canister of flammable gas and a lighter, and then looked towards the house.

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Going through the bright, living light, Chloe gasped as she stumbled into the room of some house, the anomaly closing behind her.

Helen wouldn't be coming.

Taking in a deep breath, she wondered where and when she was.

Hearing screams from the room next door, Chloe's body froze, before she slowly made towards the door and peeked it open.

Her eyes widened as she realized what was on the other side of that door.

Claudia Brown was batting at some tiny vicious little flying creatures with a golf club from a gulf bag in the room.

As Claudia kept swinging and backing away, Chloe reached out and grabbed her shirt from behind, pulling her into the room with her and closing the door.

"Who's that?" Claudia screamed, swinging the club blindly.

Chloe only managed to duck the club on time. "Claudia! It's me! Stop swinging!"

"_Chloe_?" Claudia gasped, freezing, knuckles going transparent from the tightness of her grip. "You're okay!"

The creatures began to throw themselves against the door.

"That's a matter of opinion I guess." She replied, look at the door and then at Claudia, narrowing her eyes. "How long has it been? Why couldn't you recognize me?"

"I got hit in the face. My vision's not what it used to be." Claudia replied, reaching out for her. "But it's coming back. Slowly."

The banging grew more desperate.

The baby Bagaceraptops in her arms cried loudly, sensing the danger on the other side of the door.

"What's that?" Claudia whispered.

"My puppy." Chloe replied, reaffirming her hold on the baby before grabbing Claudia's hand. "Let's catch up later."

As she dragged Claudia away, the door of the room they were in started give way under the pressure of the many different bodies throwing themselves against it. Chloe pulled the redhead down the corridor and into a kitchen, closing the door just before the creatures arrived. She stopped, keeping her back pressed against the door, looking around her, trying to devise a plan in which they weren't eaten alive. "Okay, Claudia. I need you to do something for me."

"Y-yes." Claudia nodded. "What is it?"

"Trust me."

Claudia nodded without hesitation.

"First, take Baby." Chloe reached out the terrified creature. "She's a baby Bagaceratops, herbivore, harmless. She won't hurt you. I need you to keep her safe for me."

"What is it with this team and adopting dinosaurs?" Claudia asked, confusing Chloe a little, but the redhead reached for the crying baby nonetheless.

"How much can you see?"

"Vague shapes." Claudia replied, struggling to keep control over the baby dinosaur in her arms. "Things keep getting clearer though."

"Right." Chloe nodded, pressing all of her weight against the door as the creatures on the other side banged against it viciously. "Do you see that door?"

Claudia turned towards the door and narrowed her eyes. "Yes."

"Go and stand by it." Chloe ordered, grunting as the door gave a jerk under the pressure of the assault. "When I say so, go out and close it behind you."

"What about you?" Claudia didn't seem very happy with this plan. "Chloe, if something happened to you Nick-."

"Remember. Trust me."

The redhead sighed and nodded, slowly feeling her way towards the door and finding it, her hand going to the handle. "Okay. I'm ready."

Toeing a chair towards her, Chloe grabbed it and used it to jam the door long enough for her to dart towards the gas ovens, the gas hissing loudly as she turned on the valves. The blonde then grabbed a metal jug and put it in the microwave.

"_Chloe_?" Claudia called nervously.

"Almost there." The blonde rushed back to the other door and kicked away the door, keeping it open with the pressure of her back before reaching back to grab the handle and opening it, letting the creatures in, hiding her body behind the opened door. "NOW!"

Claudia opened the door she was by and closed it behind her.

Chloe reached over and started the microwave as the creatures continued to fly in, filling the room with the large flock, and then she slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her as she began to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

The spark caused by putting the metal jug in the microwave ignited the gas in the room, causing a huge explosion. Chloe continued running down the corridor, trying to keep out of the fireball's way.

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Outside, Nick ducked as the fireball was followed by bits of debris.

He froze in horror, looking up at the mess above him. "Claudia Brown."

Hearing something behind him, he turned, relief filling his soul as he saw her coming towards him. She was covered in soot, had a small cut near to her right temple, and was holding a struggling baby Bagaceratops...but she was _fine_.

"You scared the life out of me." He hurried towards her. "You all right?" He looked at the baby. "Where did you get that little fellow?"

She turned to look at him, pale. "Nick. Chloe saved me."

The smile drained from his face. "_What_?" He looked around. "Where is she?"

"I don't know." Claudia whispered, shaking. "The last time I saw her she was letting in that whole flock into the kitchen with her and the gas."

Nick was going to throw up.

He-he turned to the burning house.

"_No_."

The baby in Claudia's arms struggled and cried loudly.

"_No_." Nick broke down, falling on his knees, tears welling up in his eyes. "_NO!_"

"Nick?" Claudia whispered behind him.

He couldn't hear her, couldn't respond, just looking at the burning wreckage.

"_Nick_!" Claudia tried once more.

He hated her for a second.

"_Nick_?" A new voice whispered to his right. "Are you okay?"

A tear falling down his pale cheek, Nick turned towards the voice, seeing a scratched, soot-covered Chloe limping towards him. "_Chloe_?"

She stopped, sending him a worried look. "What happened?"

Nick didn't remember standing and rushing to her, but he had her in his arms, twirling her around.

Chloe's squeal was first of surprise and then of glee.

Ryan and his men arrived, running up behind them.

No one noticed.

"Chloe." Nick finally lowered her so that her feet were touching the ground, but didn't let go of her. "I am your father."

Chloe looked into his face with a mixture of emotions before she smiled and nodded.

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Chloe had never been lifted by more men in her life.

Nick, Ryan, Connor, Stephen...all had lifted her and given her a twirl, until she'd gotten slightly dizzy, and Baby had scratched up Claudia an insufferable amount of times out of desperation to escape. The baby Bagaceratops seemed to recognize the sound of Chloe's heartbeat though, because it stilled when returned to her arms and rested against her chest. She stood with the others at the anomaly site, where the pteranodon was.

"Guys, you'd better be quick." Connor announced, compass out. "I don't think the anomaly's going to hold much longer."

Claudia's phone rang. The redhead, who'd been gradually recovering her eyesight, checked who it was, but didn't answer.

Nick noticed this.

Claudia shrugged at him. "Lester. What can I say? The battery was down and I just didn't get to the call in time."

He tilted his head, looking at her. "You saying Lester doesn't know about this?"

She looked away. "Wouldn't be happy if he did."

Nick suddenly broke out into a grin. "I thought you weren't going to take sides."

"It's a one-off." The redhead scoffed. "Against my better judgement."

Chloe watched them.

Stephen passed her and went to Nick, carrying a big red flag. Handing it to Nick, he and Connor returned to where Abby was holding Rex and Chloe was holding Baby.

"It better work." Claudia grumbled as the pteranodon started to wake up.

Nick got into a cherry picker, turning to look down at Stephen as he was raised in the air. "So, you're absolutely confidant that this creature doesn't eat mammals?"

"Dung never lies." Stephen reassured, hand going to rest on Chloe's shoulder. "And if I'm wrong about that, at least you'll always have a special place in the history books."

"I always wanted to be famous." Nick deadpanned. "Let's do it."

Chloe turned to Stephen, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's this about dung?"

Stephen gave her a grin.

Ryan winced, looking queasy.

The men plus Connor went to the pteranodon and released the ropes holding it down, and Connor and Stephen started to lift the sheet over it.

"Okay, soldier boy." Stephen mumbled.

"All right, we're ready." Nick called down to them. "Let her go!"

The sheet was lifted, and after a few moments, the pteranodon started to get up. It flapped its wings a couple of times, and then flew off in the opposite direction to where Nick waved his flag in front of the anomaly.

"Turn!" Nick called.

"Turn around!" Stephen yelled.

"Over here!" Abby jumped, causing Rex to chirp in complaint in her arms.

"Over here!" Connor echoed, waving his hands wildly, trying to catch its attention.

Chloe frowned, looking up at the anomaly, as she felt the throbbing growing slower and weaker. "The anomaly's going to close."

Everyone was too busy trying to get the creature's attention to hear her.

"Come back!"

"Come back!"

"Hey! Come on! Over here!"

"This way! Over here!"

"Hey! Yeah! This way!"

The pteranodon turned, obviously attracted by the sounds, and began to fly towards Nick.

"Okay, come on." Nick whispered, waving the flag wildly. "Come on."

"Come here!" Abby yelled.

"It's beautiful." Chloe whispered, ducking along with everyone else as the creature swooped overhead.

It flew passed Nick into the anomaly right before it closed.

Cheers erupted from the group as Stephen threw Connor's hat in victory and Abby jumped up and down.

"Safe journey." Nick whispered to the empty sky before descending the cherry picker, dropping the flag, and going to Chloe, hesitating only a second before placing his hand at the small of her back. "Let's grab some coffee and go to my flat to talk."

Chloe smiled. "Let's."

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**Review?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval/Smallville.**

Chapter 6/6 of Season One.

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Chloe looked around her with a slight frown.

The feeling of being watched was intense.

The blonde had just walked back from the grocery store close to her flat, and was trying to work the keys into her lock.

She paused once more, looking around.

Nothing.

Frowning at just how _good_ he was at this, she shook her head and finally got her keys in the lock.

Inside, Baby could be heard uttering excited grunts and other sounds as those tiny feet hurried towards the door in excitement.

Chuckling, Chloe smiled as she unlocked the door and entered, locking the door behind her as the baby dinosaur tried to climb up her legs in happiness.

"And to think I wanted I dog." She bent and rubbed the Bagaceratops' head with her finger. "Did you use the magazine I left for you in the corner?"

She'd never have expected that she would be one day trying to house train a dinosaur, but Chloe Sullivan was always up to a challenge.

And with her job, every day was a challenge.

Especially now.

If they were going to defend themselves more effectively, then they were going to have to do something more than just react to anomalies when they appeared. They were going to have to discover _why_ the anomalies were opening and then predict when the next one would appear. Nick thought it might be possible, and he had a couple of ideas of how it might be done, but he needed more time to be able to test certain theories.

The blonde went to the kitchen and fingered the curtains open enough to be able to stare down at the street below.

And there he was, leaning against the light post, looking up at her flat from across the street, expression shadowed by the darkness of the falling night.

She didn't know where he'd been hiding those investigative skills while they'd been together, but Ben had managed to find her relatively easy.

But every time it seemed like he would cross the road to come to her flat and confront her, demand an explanation, he'd back up and snap something inaudible to himself before storming away.

He didn't realize _she'd _realized he was there.

Or that she didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed every time he walked away.

Baby whimpered at her feet.

She sighed, picking up the dinosaur and holding her to her chest as she continued to look down longingly at Ben.

"I know how you feel."

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Nick looked at the anomaly in the Forest of Dean, standing next to Captain Ryan. He _would_ have called Stephen to join him, but the other man hadn't answered his mobile when he'd called. The younger male was probably picking up Abby, Rex and Connor so they could head over to Chloe's for movie night. Nick wasn't exactly sure _when_ they'd made that a routine, but once a week they gathered in the blonde's stylishly furnished flat (Abby had helped her choose the furniture, and then the females had forced the men to move it in for them) and watched a couple of movies and drank and had a good time. It was an enjoyable evening. Chloe had managed to convince Claudia and Ryan to start coming as well, and while those two were more stiff and proper, with a couple of drinks in them...Nick had _never_ heard such racy jokes as he had spewing from the redhead's lips.

He smiled at the memory.

"Don't see what's to smile about, Professor." Ryan mumbled at his side, dressed in civvies, obviously having been readying to go to the apartment as well when he'd gotten the call. He frowned at the huge hole in the security fence. "This is _nothing_ to smile about."

"Well, I'm no _Stephen_, but I know that there aren't any footprints...no trail." Nick commented.

Ryan nodded. "If there was anything out there, my men would have found it by now."

Nick nodded as well. "Must have gone back."

And yet he felt unease twirling in his stomach.

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Claudia walked down the corridor with Lester, trying to fight her annoyance. "He made a mistake about Helen, yes he should have told us. But he was under enormous pressure. And he predicted the temporal fault line, _and_ has been correct about the anomalies reoccurring. That's not _luck_. If there's anyone who can help us predict and contain these things, it's him."

"What about the Yankee?" Lester wanted to know. "She is an anomaly in herself so to speak, _and_ she spent that time with her mother. Maybe she picked up some tricks while visiting the Jurassic?"

"Chloe says she doesn't know _how_ Helen knew where the anomalies were, just that she did." Claudia insisted.

"She could be covering for her." Lester replied.

"She _isn't_." Helen countered, eyes narrowing. "Listen, Lester, Chloe had something tragic happen to her, criminal even. But she is in no way a person of interest for you. You've seen her medical reports. She's perfectly healthy and perfectly normal."

"They were basic exams." Lester stopped walking and turned to Claudia. "What would more _thorough_ exams show us about the effects prenatal time travel has upon a fetus? Or how growing up in a time in which you shouldn't tightly even _exist_ do to your body? _Think_ of what might be uncovered."

"Nick would _never_ allow you to touch his daughter." Claudia clenched her fists. "Neither would the rest of his team...and many of _your_ team either."

Lester raised an eyebrow at her. "You make it sound as if I was planning on _kidnapping_ the Yankee and keeping her a medical _hostage_. _Really_ Claudia." He tsked and shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying _at all_. We _are_ a civilized people, you know."

The redhead continued looking at him.

"All I am saying is that there has to be _something_ that the Yankee wants that we could offer in exchange for her _cooperation_ in the _advancement of science_." Lester clasped his hands behind his back and walked away. "_Everyone_ has their price."

Claudia narrowed her eyes as she watched him walk away.

She was going to have to warn Chloe about this.

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Stephen went towards his jeep, late to pick up the others, and knowing they weren't going to let him off without some scolding. Weekends at Chloe's was a tradition now, a time to wind down and relax, and with the line of work they were in, relaxation was sacred. The brunet wasn't any different, having even forgotten his phone in his flat in his hurry to get on the road. But he froze, shocked, when he noticed the woman leaning against his jeep.

"Helen." He narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"All this urban living's mad human beings such lazy animals." She sighed. "Second-rate hearing, no sense of smell, no worthwhile instincts."

"Well, man has no predators, we have nothing to be afraid of except each other."

"Well, that used to be the case, but times are changing, aren't they, Stephen?" She gave him a slow smile.

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

"A cold beer would be nice."

"Well, you're out of luck. I already have somewhere I need to be. Your daughter's actually. You know. The daughter you never let Cutter know he had?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come _on_. Not you too."

Stephen shook his head at her, unable to believe her attitude towards the whole thing.

"If _she_ doesn't hate me, I don't see how anyone else has the excuse to." Helen finally announced, flicking some imaginary lint off of her shirt. "How is she? By the way?"

"Fine." Stephen sighed, seeing the humanity returning somewhat to that face he used to know so well. "She's been studying up dinosaurs during her free moments, seems to have become quite obsessed with it, actually."

Helen smirked. "I knew she would feel it. I _knew_ that this world wouldn't be enough for her."

"Like it wasn't enough for you?" Stephen couldn't keep himself from asking.

She looked up at him, smirk growing. "Exactly."

Stephen closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Why don't you just tell me what you want?"

"A meeting. With Nick, Chloe and Lester. Tomorrow morning at 11. Here." She handed him a piece of paper. "No armed thugs, no ambushes. They'll want to hear what I've got to say."

"Nick and Lester don't trust you." He gazed down at the paper.

"I don't trust them, either. But this is serious." She got out a newspaper and passed it to Stephen. "Three people have disappeared in the last 48 hours. I know what happened to them."

"Creature." The pieces began to fall in place. "What kind?"

"It's good to see you again, Stephen." She smiled at him, changing the subject. "You know, you were always one of my better students. Not the very brightest maybe, but always full of idealism and integrity." She pushed away from the jeep and closed the distance between before placing a kiss on his lips. "I miss that."

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The others were running late.

Chloe lay on the ground on her stomach, twirling a thin branch with some leaves in Baby's face, the tiny thing making those excited grunts as her tail wagged in an insane manner. The blonde grinned. Nick had done some research for her and handed her a list of things she could feed the creature, and other such things. It'd been very helpful, and she didn't have to fear about accidentally poisoning her beloved little pet.

Baby suddenly looked to the right and raced away, her stocky little legs loud against the wooden floor as she made her way to the far corner, where the newspaper was laid down for her.

Chloe sat up and watched as the creature proved that _anything_ could be house trained with some love and a _lot_ of patience.

The blonde grinned and then laid on her back, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about what Abby had told her over the phone earlier.

Apparently there'd been some problems at the Wellington Zoo, where Abby worked when an anomaly wasn't threatening. They're been a disturbance in the lion enclosure, and while at first they'd thought the lions were fighting, none of the lions had been injured. But there was a lion missing, a hole in the roof of the cage, and Abby and Connor (Abby hadn't explained _what _Connor had been doing there at the time) had found blood. That wasn't the oddest part. The _oddest_ part was that Connor had had the blood tested and the analysis had come back from the lab. Most of it was from a lion, but some of it had been from a bat.

Abby had pointed out that bats got everywhere, so this really shouldn't be very important, except for the fact that the bat's DNA was apparently unlike anything the examiners had ever seen before. And on top of that, Abby's corpulent yet sincere boss, Tim, had ben missing since yesterday. They'd found his stuff, but there'd been no sign of _him_. It had been as if he'd just vanished.

And Tim wasn't the only one.

Three more people had gone missing without a trace, baffling the police as to what had happened to them.

The doorbell rung.

Baby, scared as she always was by the sound, took off as fast as her tiny feet would take her, heading towards the bedroom.

Chloe watched her with amusement, before getting up and heading to the door, opening it and smiling at the three on her doorstep. "Come on in you slowpokes."

"It was all Stephen's fault." Connor announced, putting all the blame on the taller man's shoulders. "He was late picking us up."

"Where's Baby?" Abby wanted to know, holding Rex wrapped up in a blanket. "Rex has missed her."

"In the bedroom." Chloe smiled, letting them into the very warm apartment before turning to Stephen and raising an eyebrow at him. "You gonna come in?"

Stephen motioned with his head for her to come out for a second.

Frowning, she stepped out and closed the door behind her, hugging herself against the cold of the night as opposed to the warmth of her flat. "What is it? What happened?"

"Helen came to see me before I came, it's why I was late." Stephen replied, taking off his jacket and placing it around her trembling shoulders. "She wants to see you, me, Nick and Lester tomorrow. Says that there's a predator on the loose, but won't say anything else."

Chloe frowned, not knowing what to feel knowing that she'd be seeing her mother again. "We'll tell Nick when he, Claudia and Ryan get here."

Stephen nodded, leaning back against the staircase railing. "You _do_ realize he's still out there, right?" He took in a deep breath, obviously referring to Ben. "He's really good at skulking. If I hadn't been looking for him I wouldn't have seen him."

"He is." Chloe agreed, doing her best to keep from looking where Ben was cloaked in shadows, watching her.

"You know, this could be considered _stalking_." Stephen replied, seeming amused.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Could it if I'm eager to see him every day?"

Stephen rolled his eyes at her and leaned forwards, reaching over and ruffling up her hair. "You know, if you like him this much, you should just go up to him and talk to him."

She batted away his hand. "And have Lester give him more trouble? No. I refuse."

Stephen sighed. "He's not going to go away, Chloe. You owe it to the kid to give him some sort of answer."

She looked down to her feet. "I know. I just don't know what to say."

Shaking his head, Stephen pushed away from the railing and placed an arm around her. "When Claudia comes you should talk to her about it. She'll help you think of something."

"Thanks. I'll do that." Chloe nodded, smiling up thankfully at Stephen as they entered the flat.

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"Are you sure you don't already know what this is about?" Lester wanted to know the next day, eyes on Nick, as they stood on the bridge over a large pond that Helen had instructed they wait for her on.

Claudia sighed.

"What does that mean?" Nick turned to Lester, eyes narrowed.

"She's your wife, the mother of your-if the DNA test can be trusted-_daughter_, you join the dots." Lester replied crisply. His gaze then went to Chloe. "How about _you_? Has mommy dearest payed you any visits lately?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him. "Mommy dearest? _Really_ Lester."

He met her raised eyebrow with one of his own.

Chloe couldn't help but giggle at that.

Lester frowned, looking somewhat baffled and uncomfortable at that reaction.

Obviously he'd been going for intimidation.

"Look, if she _does_ know about the disappearances..." Nick began.

"That's a police matter." Lester interrupted impatiently. "There's no evidence of creature involvement."

"Yet." Stephen reminded.

"Okay, _fine_." Lester huffed, seeming much put upon. "We'll do it her way. But if this turns out to be another of her manipulative schemes, the deal's off and she goes straight back on the wanted list."

Chloe, sensing something, turned, taking in a deep breath. "Here she comes."

They stopped talking and turned to look at the brunette.

"You have a serious creature incursion." She announced, foregoing a greeting, expression determined. "A highly evolved ambush predator. Intelligent, adaptable and ruthless."

Claudia frowned. "If there was a creature on the loose, we'd know about it."

"At least 3 people have disappeared in the last few days." Helen replied.

"Missing." Lester insisted.

"Killed." Helen corrected. "The creature has a lair somewhere nearby. It's taken them for food."

"Now how do you know that?" Nick wanted to know, eyes narrowed.

She raised her chin slightly. "Because it nearly got me, too."

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked, surprised at the worry that entered her.

Helen turned to her and smiled. "Yes. Thank you. I managed to escape."

Chloe cleared her throat and looked down at her feet.

"What is it?" Stephen asked, obviously referring to the creature, breaking into the moment.

"It has no name." Helen replied.

"Then which era is it from?" Nick made a face.

"It doesn't come from any era." She declared before pausing. "At least, not one that can be identified yet."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Her husband frowned.

"Yes you do, Nick." She turned to him with a smile. "You knew it had to happen one day. You've known it ever since you first stepped into the past."

"The future?" He whispered, eyes wide. "Are you saying we're being attacked by a creature from the _future_?"

"I've seen a lot of amazing creatures, but nothing like this one." She took in a deep breath. "It has human levels of intelligence, and an almost supernatural ability to stalk it's prey. It could be right here now watching us and we'd never know."

"If it's so clever, how did you see it?" Claudia wanted to know, folding her arms over her chest.

"I discovered it in the Permian, just after a kill." Helen explained, looking around her, as if expecting the creature to be there. "It was feeding and its defences were down."

"What does it look like?" Chloe asked, trying to imagine this future predator.

"Like a great ape, but bigger, faster. And a _lot_ more agile."

"Hold on." Nick raised his hands. "What makes you so certain that it's not some lost species that's just disappeared from the evolutionary record?"

"No Nick. It's not like any creature from the Permian, or any other prehistoric era." Helen shook her head. "The only possible explanation is that it strayed through a future anomaly into the Permian era, and then on into ours."

Lester sighed, _very _put upon by this time. "You know, I'm _really_ beginning to regret not staying in management consultancy." He glared at Helen. "So now it's the future as well. And apparently we can't do a damn thing about it."

"How did it get here?" Chloe wanted to know. If it'd been in the Permian, how had it suddenly found its way to present day?

"I have no idea." Helen shrugged. "It was only when I got back I found out it was on the loose. Obviously my first thought was to do as much as I could to help."

Lester snorted, raising an eyebrow. "How public spirited of you." He sighed. "Where can we contact you?"

Helen smiled at Nick. "At my house. Of course."

Nick's face was unreadable.

Claudia looked away, the expressions on _her_ face easy to read.

Chloe looked between the three of them, wincing.

_Oh boy_.

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Something was bothering her.

Pacing her flat, Baby following her every pace faithfully, Chloe tried to figure out what it was.

And then it hit her, and she felt like an idiot for not having contemplated it sooner.

Grabbing her coat Chloe raced to the door and flung it open, stopping in mid-step when she nearly barreled into Ben Becker, who was standing in front of her door, hand raised to knock.

Her eyes widened.

So did his.

Baby squeaked from inside of the apartment, seeing the stranger and rushing to the bedroom to hide once more.

Which was just as good considering Chloe couldn't figure out how to explain a baby dinosaur to Ben on top of everything else.

"What was that?" Ben asked, curiously, looking behind her at the sound but just missing seeing Baby dash into the bedroom.

"My pet. She's very shy." Chloe announced, looking at him up and down, nearly _heady_ with the scent of the cologne she was oh-so used to. "So you finally decided to come up and say hi?"

He blinked. "You knew I was there?"

She scratched the side of her face. "It wasn't that you weren't being discreet. I-I'm just used to keeping a paranoid eye on my surroundings."

He lowered his head, embarrassment coloring his every feature. "You've got to think I'm some sort of demented freak, huh?"

She took the opportunity of his gaze being elsewhere to smile tenderly at him. "Nah, not really. Just _really_ determined."

Ben took in a deep breath before looking up at her. "Can we talk?"

She _really_ needed to go.

But she needed to do this too.

The blonde stepped back in and held the door opened for him.

Ben cleared his throat before entering, looking around the flat awkwardly. "Nice place."

"Thanks, I'm still trying to get used to it." She replied, closing the door behind him.

"It's kinda warm." He commented, having to take off his jacket.

"Uh, yeah." She had to keep the temperature very warm for Baby. "You know me. Kansas girl."

He nodded, folding his jacket over his arm before turning to her. "What happened that day, Chloe?"

Chloe pulled off her own coat and motioned towards the sofa. "We need to sit down for this."

"We probably do." He agreed, going to sit down next to her.

They were silent for a moment, neither able to really look at the other.

Chloe then cleared her throat, remembering the conversation she'd had with Claudia concerning this. "Ben, I can't tell you _everything_ about what happened that day, there are just some things that are classified and I'm not allowed to speak about. If I did, it'd _probably_ be treason to the crown, and considering that my papers are still being processed I _really_ don't want to get the Big Whigs angry."

"Papers?" Ben frowned. "What papers?"

"I'd _considered_ dual nationality, but considering I'm supposed to be _dead_, and it's better everyone back home continues to think that, I'm just accepting my British papers." Chloe responded, wincing. "That's going to be hard getting used to, though, I won't lie to you. I love being American."

Ben's frown had grown. "British-? How could you get British papers? Your parents aren't British, you haven't stayed here long enough to change your nationality. And you're not married." He froze. "You're not _married_, are you? Are you and that bloke having a trial of separation or-?"

Chloe's eyes widened. "No! Stephen and I are _not_ married! We're not together for crying out loud!" She then took in a deep breath. "I'm getting my papers through my father."

Ben shook his head. "Gabe Sullivan doesn't have a _drop_ of English blood in him."

"No, but Nick Cutter _does_." Chloe looked deep into his eyes. "And Nick Cutter is my _biological_ father." She sighed and leaned back against the sofa. "It's something we both recently discovered, and we're working on _bonding_."

Ben just sat there, silent.

Chloe did as well.

"Is your mother alive?" He finally asked.

She winced. "Not _officially_."

Ben narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you _mean_ not officially?"

"Well, _I'm _not alive officially either." She hedged, standing, uncomfortable. "Apparently we both have a tendency to disappear in the middle of _really_ good relationships with amazing men. Okay?"

Ben stood as well. "What aren't you telling me, Chlo?"

She looked away from him, hugging herself. "Don't make me do this, Ben."

"Do _what_?" He asked, going towards her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Run away again?" He gave her a little shake. "Because I'm beginning to think you _didn't_ run away, Chloe. I'm beginning to think you were _taken_."

She looked up at him, eyes wide.

"I'm right, aren't I?" He asked, hazel eyes staring down into her green ones. "You didn't leave that day because you wanted to. You didn't leave _me_ because you wanted to."

"It doesn't _matter_ what I wanted or want, okay?" Chloe tore her gaze away from his, wanting to cry, wanting to hug him, wanting him to never let go but knowing she had to make him do so. "What matters now is that you need to understand that you can't come near me anymore, okay? For both our sakes, you need to forget about this and get on with your life." She pulled out of his touch and went to the door, opening it. "Have a good life, Benjamin Becker."

He stood there, looking at her almost emotionlessly, before he nodded and walked to the door, _out_ the door.

Out of her home.

Out of her life.

Her heart was shattering once more.

And this time she was scared there wouldn't be enough pieces left to try and out back together.

"And be careful." She called after him as he descended the stairs leading to her flat. "It's not safe anymore."

He didn't stop.

Didn't acknowledge her words.

She closed her eyes and stopped breathing for long enough to keep the sob back.

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Helen sat in the living room of what had once been her home, taking her boots off while Nick sat at the piano.

"You could have redecorated." She announced, giving the place a quick look.

"I like it." Nick replied easily. "Anyway, are you going to tell me why you were lying back there with Lester and the others?"

"No idea what you're talking about." She hedged.

"Well, you know, the others buy that line about you just wanting to help, but I've known you for longer than they have." He replied easily.

Helen paused, shaking her head. "Look, everything I said about the Permian was true. I discovered the creature and made my observations." She hesitated. "But I got too fascinated, got too close. It sensed I was watching."

He closed his eyes, understanding now. "So you became the prey."

"Yeah, I only just got away." She nodded, leaning forwards, elbows on her thighs. "Problem was, my escape route led me back here."

"And it followed you." Nick sighed, running his hand over his face. "So this is _your_ fault."

"I could have walked away. But I didn't." Helen stood, eyes narrowed. "I stayed to help. I'm still human, Nick, I … I do care what happens. Believe it or not I do care about you."

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"Thanks for letting me hang around." Chloe smiled at Abby, as the girl was dressed in her work clothes.

"You really think that thing might have been what took Simba?" Abby frowned as they walked down together in front of the monkey cage.

"Not sure, but its always a possibility." Chloe shrugged, feeling the crisp air on her cheeks. "I just thought that it would be good if I could take a look around. I mean, I'm no expert, and even if it _was_ it could be gone by now, most probably is. But maybe I can find something, you know?"

Abby nodded. "Just be careful, okay?" She frowned. "I would go with you but I'm busy and with Tim missing this whole place is a mess and..."

"Don't worry." Chloe smiled, placing her hand on Abby's shoulder. "I'll be fine."

"Okay." Abby took in a deep breath before walking away. "I'm going to call Stephen and let him know, though, just in case."

"Sure." Chloe nodded, waving to her friend before walking away herself, fighting back the paranoid feeling that she was being watched.

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In Nick's office in the Central Metropolitan University, Stephen tidied the place while Connor spun around on Nick's chair, playing around with the things on his desk and listening to Stephen as he filled him in on what had happened during the meeting with Helen.

"What, and that's all she said?" Connor asked, frowning.

"That's it." Stephen nodded, not really paying attention to the younger male.

"Nothing else?" Connor asked, picking up one the fossils on the desk. "No details at all?"

"Why?" Stephen frowned, turning towards him. "Put it down."

Connor did as told before looking up at the brunet. "It's just, I found some bat blood at the zoo yesterday."

"So?" Stephen raised an eyebrow. "There are bats everywhere."

"Well, _yeah_, but _this_ bat's blood had really, _really_ screwed up DNA." Connor replied. "I mean, you know, it's probably nothing, but one of the lions went missing, and now, Abby's boss, he's just disappeared as well."

Stephen froze. "Where's Abby?"

Connor made a face. "She said she was working late." His phone vibrated and he pulled it out. "Hmmm. Text from the devil herself. She says that Chloe's there investigating." He paused. "Chloe thinks there's a connection and that the creature might be using the place as a hunting ground. Abby is worried and doesn't want her to be-."

Stephen was already halfway out the door. "We need to get to the zoo with as much back up as possible!"

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Chloe was in the darkened underground walkway, eyeing the sea lions through the peephole in the wall. She'd gotten a little distracted from her investigating by their antics, and now had her back to the shadows creeping towards her in the darkness, her gaze fully on the creature playing happily in the water. The blonde traced her fingers against the peephole before turning to leave, eyes widening and a scream nearly escaping her throat before she recognized who it was behind her.

"_Ben_?" She brought her hand to her rapidly beating heart before slapping his shoulder angrily. "Don't creep up on me like that! You gave me the scare of my life!"

"I wasn't creeping. I was walking, normally. Though the fact that you didn't notice me this time has helped my ego somewhat." He replied softly, looking around, eyes narrowed. "You all right?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Chloe asked, noticing his rigid arms and following their straight line downwards...eyes widening when she saw what he held clasped tightly. "Why do you have a gun?"

"There's a creature in here." He whispered, moving slightly so that his back was to her and hers was to the wall. His gun trained in front of him expertly. "I saw it come in after you. That's why I made my presence known."

Chloe's eyes widened.

Not only did Ben carry a gun and obviously know how to use it well enough for it to look absolutely _natural_ for him...but they were stuck in a long, dark underground walkway with what could most probably be the future predator.

_God_.

"What did it look like?" She whispered to his back.

"Unlike anything I've ever seen before." He hissed back, training his gun at any little shifting of shadows. "Kinda like a messed up ape, but bigger, and meaner."

Chloe gulped, reached out to grab the back of his shirt in a gesture of fear. "It's the predator. We _have_ to get out of here. I _thought_ this might be one of its hunting grounds but I-I should have _thought_ this might happen!"

"You know what it is." Ben's voice was shocked.

She tightened her hold on the back of his shirt. "You came into the dark, _knowing_ there's some kind of _creature_ loose here. _Why_?"

He snorted. "Do you _really_ have to ask?"

Her heart soared at what he was insinuating, though she kept her voice low and neutral. "You walked out the door."

"You were being stubborn. There's no use talking to you when you're being stubborn. We would have just ended up fighting." He hissed back. "Didn't mean I'd given up though. We both just needed to calm down. And we needed some time apart to do so."

"Yet you followed me." She pointed out.

"You told me to be careful, that it wasn't safe." He shook his head. "Did you _really_ expect me to let you leave by yourself after that?"

Suddenly there was movement as something dropped down from the ceiling in front of them, blending into the shadows and yet _there_.

Ben's body tensed as he shot, the shadows moving rapidly. He tried to follow them with his aim, shooting as he did so.

There was an inhuman screech and then the gun was slapped out of his grip, disappearing into the darkness.

A growl echoed in the black.

Ben slowly backed him and Chloe, standing in front of her protectively, eyes narrowed into the darkness.

She gripped the back of his shirt and closed her eyes.

The creature moved towards them, when suddenly a sea lion appeared by the peephole and made one of its sounds, distracting the predator.

It then returned its attention to Ben, snarling as it moved face to face with him, before suddenly looking away and taking off rapidly into the darkness, emerging out the other side of the walkway. Seconds later a group of soldiers came down the walkway, led by Ryan.

"_Chloe_?" Ryan called.

"Tom!" She gasped in shock, unable to believe that they were still alive. "We're here!"

The soldiers streamed down towards them, the lights at the end of their guns shining on them.

"Hands up!"

"Identify yourself!"

"Don't shoot!" Chloe cried out from behind him. "He saved my life! He saved me from the predator!"

Ben slowly raised his hands, identifying himself. "Captain Benjamin Becker, I'm with SAS."

Chloe's eyes widened as she got out from behind him and turned to him. "_What_?"

His gaze went to her, though his hands were still up and he was facing forwards. "You're not the _only one_ with a couple of secrets, luv."

"The _SAS_?" She exclaimed, unable to believe it. "You told me you were in Accounting!"

"Benjamin Becker." Captain Ryan put down his weapon. "Long time no see." He turned to his men. "At ease boys, I know him."

Ben lowered his hands. "Haven't seen you since training, Tom."

Captain Ryan nodded. "We were assigned different teams. That happens." He frowned. "What are you doing here, Ben? Weren't you on some sort of sabbatical? Lost your ambition after your American bird went and..." Suddenly his eyes widened as he looked between Chloe and Ben. "_No_."

Chloe looked down at her feet.

"The bird was _you_?" Ryan asked, before frowning. "Lester's going to have a _fit_."

"Let me deal with Lester." Chloe replied shortly.

Ben frowned. "Wait. _James_ Lester? From the Home Office?" He frowned and turned to Chloe. "You work for _James Lester _and _The Home Office_?"

"You make it sound like a rock band." She mumbled, unable to look at him.

"What's going on?" Ben frowned.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Ryan stepped forwards. "But this is out of _your_ jurisdiction. It's classified information, and we're going to need to escort you off of the premises and have you sign an Official Secrets Act about what you just saw here."

"What _did_ I just see here?" Ben's eyes narrowed.

"_Chloe_!" Connor and Stephen arrived, both rushing towards her, Stephen reaching her first and lifting her off of the ground and twirling her around.

"You damned _fool_!" He snapped at her as he did so. "You're going to get yourself _killed!_ You can't _do_ these sorts of things without backup!"

"I'm _sorry_." Chloe whispered as she was let down. "I didn't think-."

"If Abby hadn't texted us..." Connor began, giving her a tight hug.

"He would have saved me." She turned towards where Ben and Ryan stood. "The predator came up face to face with him, and Ben didn't even _flinch_."

Ben looked between her and Stephen, face blank.

The blonde went towards him and looked up at him in the shadows. "_Thank you_." Pressing up on her toes she placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

He was still watching her as Ryan had some of his men escort the dark haired man off of the premises.

Stephen went to stand next to her as she watched Ben leave. "I have to admit. I'm kinda impressed."

Chloe smiled. "Me too."

Connor looked between them both and promptly frowned. "Uh. Guys? Who was that?"

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In the camel closure, after being informed about what had happened and brought to the zoo, and after giving Chloe a good scolding about the stupidity and dangerousness of her actions (Nick) and commending her on her foresight and intuition (Helen) the brunette was now in the camel enclosure, sitting on a bench. While she admitted that Chloe shouldn't have gone exploring by herself if she suspected the future predator might be around, Helen applauded her for having connected the dots so much faster than the rest of them. The girl might have her father's looks and brain, but she had her mother's drive and curiosity, her independence and _fascination_ with what came out from the anomalies.

Helen could use this, she could use it all, to convince the blonde to leave this place and its rules, and travel with her through time.

She looked up as Claudia Brown walked in, talking to one of the soldiers.

"We've really got to try and contain it. We can't afford to lose anybody …"

"If you want to find its lair, you're going to need dogs." Helen interrupted.

"Excuse me." Claudia waited until the soldier left before turning to Helen. "So, what can you tell me about this creature?"

Helen stood, approaching the woman who _obviously_ harbored some feelings for her husband. "It's fast. Incredibly fast. And it can camouflage itself in almost any environment. To survive in the Permian it's had to be highly adaptable, which is bad for us." She paused. "Who knows? Maybe that's how humanity meets it's end, by becoming a food source for a more successful species."

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In the woods, Nick, Stephen, Connor and Ryan and his men were headed into the trees, with dogs, from the direction of zoo.

"The creature's lair must be somewhere very close." Nick replied, still somewhat annoyed with his daughter for putting herself into such reckless danger the way she had, and had forced her to stay at the zoo with the others.

"What happens when we find this thing?" Ryan wanted to know.

"We kill it." Nick replied without hesitation.

Ryan blinked in surprise. "I thought we only killed these creature in self-defence."

"This one's too dangerous." Nick shook his head. "And if we kill it, we can't affect the past or present."

"Shoot to kill, that makes a refreshing change," Ryan grinned, returning his attention to the world around him as they continued to advance. "I was beginning to feel like a social worker."

They entered the trees and went over a small rise into an area strewn with fallen trees.

"Right." Nick turned to look at Ryan, a little distracted by a question that had been bugging him the whole walk. "This SAS guy. You said he was _involved_ with Chloe?"

Ryan looked back at Nick. "Yes, from what I understood he lived with her before her disappearance. For a while the American government thought he'd killed her, but there wasn't any proof of her being _dead_ much less that he _killed_ her." He paused. "He wasn't the same man after that though. I probably have this position thanks to that."

The dogs started to bark.

Stephen crouched down to look at a broken branch.

One of the Special Forces men was grabbed from behind, and dragged up a tree, everyone but Connor (who wasn't trusted with firearms) pointed their guns in that direction, gunshots echoing throughout the woods as well as crackling branches.

"There's nothing." Ryan called over the fire. "Make sure you verify your target."

Nick sensed something. "Look up!"

The creature jumped from branch to branch, leaping at Nick and missing when the blonde ducked.

It then ran off as it was fired at.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Stephen wanted to know eyes wide.

Nick only knew _one _thing. "We need a bigger gun."

Connor nodded in agreement.

Nick then turned to Ryan. "You said they were _living_ together before she got caught in the anomaly?"

Connor and Stephen exchanged amused looks.

Ryan seemed surprised at the sudden change in subject. "Professor, I think this is something you should speak to your daughter about when there isn't a predator from the future trying to rip your head off."

"Right. Right." Nick nodded, before frowning. "Do you know where I can get a file on him?"

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"And _when_ might I ask were you going to deem it the right time to let us know that someone from your past knew you were alive?"

Chloe flinched at Lester's pissed voice as she paced, mobile to her ear. "Never."

"Right." Lester's mood wasn't improving. "At least you're being _truthful_. Doesn't make me want to wring your neck any _less though_." He sighed. "Well then, Miss Sullivan, we've found ourselves in a pickle. You're proving to be just as untrustworthy as your mother, and frankly, I don't like the idea of this _inamorato_ of yours knowing that the future predator exists."

"He signed your papers. He won't say anything." Chloe defended.

"But I doubt he will keep to the clause which states that he isn't allowed near you." Lester replied. "He's shown in the past that he's very _persistent_. And I can't have him showing up every time there's an anomaly."

"Have him reinstated in his old post. Keep him busy." Chloe responded.

"Is that an _order_?" Lester's voice was dangerous.

"No, it's a proposition." She replaced. "Everyone has their price, right?"

He paused.

"I know you want to run more extensive examinations on me, but you need my consent." She took in a deep breath. "As long as they're reasonable, and not too intrusive, I'll cooperate. _But with conditions."_

There was a pause. "Should I be writing this down?"

She closed her eyes, feeling relief flooding her body. "Yes, you should." The blonde took in a deep breath. "I want Ben left alone, not bothered, and off his Sabbatical. If he's busy working he doesn't have time to intrude. I also want all records of him being a suspect in my supposed death dismissed. He isn't to be touched in any way by the Home Office or anyone connected by the Home Office. Also, I want a proper death."

"I beg your pardon?" Lester sounded scandalized at that last one.

"Fake death, Lester." She explained. "Up until now I'm missing and presumed dead, my family doesn't have closure. I want closure for them. Find a way to give them that closure."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all." She sighed.

"Good." Lester replied. "I'll have the contract drawn up and ready by the time you return. Good day."

And with that he hung up.

Chloe sighed and brought the mobile to her forehead.

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Helen had decided to join the men in the woods, and was listening to their story of what had happened, while she ate an apple. She noticed the jitters in some of the soldiers and shook her head, not at all impressed by the men, though Captain Ryan seemed to 'have his shit together', as Chloe had told her once when they'd been traveling through the Jurassic. She wondered about this _Ben_, who had stood face to face with a future predator and hadn't moved, protecting Chloe with his own body. She'd only seen few brave male dinosaurs do something similar to protect their mates from predators. She was impressed. The guy obviously went on his instincts, and that was something she could relate to.

She wondered, if she could get this _Ben_ on her side, if Chloe would be less hesitant about leaving her _flat_ for the great unknown.

The brunette smirked, thinking of her and Nick, and Chloe and this _Ben_ traveling through time together.

This might just work.

"It was one step ahead of us all the time." Nick announced, oblivious to her thoughts. "It knew what we were going to do before we even did it."

"I warned you it was smart." Helen bit into the apple and chewed.

"It would be more helpful if you could tell us how to catch it." He replied testily before frowning. "During your travels together did Chloe ever tell you about this Ben character?"

Helen smirked at the change in subject. "She didn't tell me his _name_, but she mentioned him, yeah."

Nick frowned darker. "She never mentioned him to _me_."

Helen just bit into the apple again.

Stephen arrived, ignorant to the conversation the two had just been having. "What we need is something that gives us an edge. Some weakness in its defences. Otherwise it's just going to pick us off, one by one."

"Dogs." Connor looked up. "The dogs went crazy before it attacked. What'd make them go off like that?"

"It can't be smell." Stephen answered. "If there were a scent trail, they'd have followed it."

"Hearing." Nick whispered.

"Sound." Connor came to the same conclusion.

"They heard something." Nick looked up.

"It's using sound." Connor added.

"That's why it manages to stay ahead of us!" Nick exclaimed. "It can detect physical movement before it's in visual range."

Connor nodded, excited. "And the dogs, they detect a higher frequency, therefore they know when it's nearby."

"Like echolocation." Ryan understood, still alert in case the creature attack once more.

"High frequency sound waves." Nick turned to Helen. "It's like a sonar system. Some animals use it to detect prey."

"Like a bat." Stephen reasoned before turning to Connor. "You said there was bat blood at the lion enclosure."

"That's it. That's it." Connor kept getting more and more excited. "This thing must be some kind of… I don't know, super-bat."

"He's right." Helen announced after chewing another bite of apple. "Three quarters of all mammal species are bats or rats. Maybe the future belongs to them."

Nick wasn't listening to her. "We can use it's own weapon against it."

"An oscilloscope." Connor turned to him.

Nick nodded. "It's in the car. Go get it."

Connor turned and ran off.

Helen watched him and bit into the last bit of the apple, chewing leisurely as he disappeared from sight. She then swallowed and turned to the men. "He _is_ the only one without a gun, right?"

Nick and Stephen exchanged looks before Stephen rushed after Connor.

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"I don't trust Lester." Abby exclaimed, having just finished her work at the zoo and joined Chloe. "What if he goes against your deal? Or he tries to do something _wrong_ to you? Like cut you open?"

Chloe looked at her. "Abby. Stop speaking."

The pixie-ish girl pouted. "You have to think about these things, Chlo. Lester's the devil. In a striped suit and bright necktie."

Hearing noise they looked up to see Connor in the parking lot, opening the back door of the car and jumping in, searching through stuff.

"I wonder if they have anything on the predator." Abby commented to Chloe.

Connor reached under the driver's seat and pulled out what seemed to be an oscilloscope.

Chloe didn't notice, her eyes widened as she saw the creature, the same creature that she and Ben had faced in the underground walkway, racing towards the car and jumping up onto the roof of the car.

Abby slapped a hand to her mouth to keep from gasping in horror as she saw the creature for the first time.

Connor looked around him frantically.

The creature climbed to the front of the car and smashed through the front windscreen but was unable to get at Connor, where he was in the back seat, through the front.

Connor unlocked the back door and got out, falling to the floor besides the car and slamming the door shut with his feet.

"Oh no." Chloe whispered as the creature got out of the car, advancing on Connor, who was still on the floor.

"HEY!" Abby screamed, bending down and grabbing at a rock before throwing it at the creature.

The rock hit the predator and it hissed, turning its back on Connor, facing the girls instead.

Abby gulped. "What's the plan?"

Chloe scoffed, unable to look away from that thing. "You're asking _me_? I thought this was _your_ plan!"

Suddenly Stephen appeared, shooting at the creature, causing it to run off.

Abby rushed towards where Connor was. "Connor! Are you okay?"

He looked up at her from where he was lying on his back. "You saved me."

She cleared her throat, looking away, clearly embarrassed. "Yeah, well, I had to. You haven't paid this month's rent yet."

Connor just smiled up at her in a very besotted way.

"Moves fast." Stephen mumbled with eyes narrowed, obviously referring to the creature, and not the Connor/Abby relationship brewing on the horizon.

Chloe just took in a deep breath, feeling quite lucky that she'd managed to meet up with this creature twice in one day, and actually make it out alive.

Now, if only she could have the same luck with _Lester_.

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Nick wasn't too happy about Chloe and Abby joining the team, but considering what had happened moments ago he was forced to admit that no where was safe at the moment, and it was probably better that the two girls were with them-the men with guns. He also decided that once this was over, Chloe, Abby and Connor were going to have to take shooting lessons. Things were getting too dangerous to have three of their own without a weapon. The group, comprising of the Anomaly Research team, Helen, and Ryan and his men were using the dogs to search a number of sheds, Connor holding the oscilloscope tightly in his hands.

"What do they keep in here?" Nick frowned, looking at the sheds.

Stephen gave it one look. "It's animal crate storage."

Helen raised an eyebrow. "Great place for a lair."

They continued walking, ending up in the middle of the group of building, the oscilloscope beeping.

"Whatever's making that noise is right on top of us." Nick commented, eyes alert on their surroundings.

Chloe gulped at the thought of coming face to face with that creature _once more_.

"Dogs should be going crazy." Stephen frowned.

"Come on." Nick motioned with his head for them to follow he he entered one of the buildings and began to look around.

Hearing an odd noise, Chloe found herself breaking off from the rest of the group, eyes widening as she went to the far corner and stared down at a box full of baby predators.

"It's in here somewhere." Connor was looking down at the oscilloscope.

"_Nick_?" Chloe couldn't look away from the tiny monsters. "You need to see this!"

Stephen and Nick were on either side of her in a second.

"My god." Stephen hissed.

"It's given birth!" Nick exclaimed.

One of the five babies made a little squealing noise.

"Oh," Connor announced from the back. "Cute."

Chloe sent him an unbelieving stare.

Connor didn't notice, flinching from the slap up the back of his head that he'd received from Abby.

"There are three bodies back here." Stephen noticed.

"She's storing them to feed her young." Helen appeared at Stephen's side, looking down at the babies in fascination.

The beeping on the oscilloscope sped up rapidly before suddenly a thudding sound could be heard on the roof.

Everyone jerked and looked above them at the roof.

"We've got company!" Connor announced the obvious.

"Where the hell is it?" Ryan snapped, aiming his M4 at apparently nothing.

Suddenly one of the soldiers got jumped by the creature, which then disappeared.

"Stephen!" Nick yelled.

Stephen nodded.

The creature came into the room, snarling and hissing. It easily dodged the shots fired at it by the soldiers, seeming to camouflage itself as it moved inhumanly fast, slashing through soldiers and making its way closer and closer to those closest to its babies.

Chloe shivered as she stared at it once more.

No matter how many times she saw this freak she was _never_ going to get used to it.

Nick suddenly grabbed one of the babies and ran out the other direction, and the creature followed its screaming baby.

"_Nick_!" Chloe screamed as Stephen rapidly followed after them.

The blonde hurried out after them in time to see Nick in a greenhouse, holding the baby as he turned towards it.

Stephen raised his aim towards the glass above the creature and shot, the glass breaking and raining down on the creature, not only cutting it but confusing its sonar, allowing Nick to get close enough to shoot it fatally in the head.

As the creature slumped to the ground, dead, Chloe slumped down as well, in relief.

Helen chuckled at her side. "That was exciting."

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That night at the Home Office, Stephen, Chloe, Connor and Abby had been sent to their homes to rest, while Nick, Claudia, Helen and Lester discussed what to do with the baby creatures now locked in a box.

"If you kill them now, you'll be making a big mistake." Helen announced, sitting down on Lester's chair, legs resting up on his desk.

"What do you suggest?" Lester wanted to know, knocking her legs from his desk and motioning for her to get the _hell_ off of his chair. "A sympathetic foster family?"

She smirked, obviously enjoying riling him as she stood. "A dangerous anomaly to the future is open in the Permian. Predators could come pouring through."

"But why do we keep these animals alive?" Claudia frowned, obviously confused.

"To pinpoint the exact location of the anomaly." Helen replied, shaking her head to Nick, as if asking him how he managed to work with these people and not call out their stupidity at every turn. "All bats have extraordinary homing instincts. They'll know their own environments. They can lead us to it."

"And what happens to them then?" Lester asked, brushing off his chair as if Helen was something _contagious_, before sitting down and leaning forwards, steepling his fingers.

"We kill them." Nick replied without second thought.

"We kill them." Lester echoed, the surprise evident. "You're usually all 'don't shoot the big bad dinosaur trying to kill us terrible humans'."

"To let even one of them loose in the Permian era could be a potential catastrophe." Nick replied, not even responding to that bard. "They could wipe out whole species. They could change things in ways we can't even conceive."

The little man in the big chair leaned backwards in the plushie thing, eyebrow raised. "And afterwards, we keep a permanent guard at the future anomaly?"

The blonde nodded. "The threat's too serious to be ignored."

"Serious enough to warrant a permanent intrusion into the past?" Claudia wanted to know, obviously uneasy with the thought.

Nick turned to her. "With the correct restrictions, yes."

"I suppose just bombing somewhere is out of the question?" Lester sighed, seeing the look Nick gave him for that suggestion. "All right, we'll do it. I just hope you're right."

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Lester had had the contract sent over to her house by a Home Office employee.

She sat in her beanie bag, Baby curled up in her lap, as she triple checked the contract.

You could never trust contracts in general.

Or Lester in particular.

But now, finishing her _fourth_ check of the document, she realized that it wasn't actually that bad at all. The procedures that would take place were all named, and detailed, so she knew _exactly_ what would happen, and it wasn't anything she'd be fearful of or that would leave any scars. And another surprising thing was that the contract didn't stipulate that she wasn't to see Ben again. Instead, it read that she was to remember what was classified information, and that she wasn't allowed to divulge the particulars of the situation to "Captain Becker". He'd seen enough to know that there was something going on, but he'd singed the Official Secrets Act, and if he wanted to think they were being invaded by aliens or that the creature had been some sort of failed experiment, let him.

Chloe wondered if Lester was stating those scenarios or if Ben had asked about either.

Taking in a deep breath, she brought the pen to paper, about to sign on the dotted line.

A knock sounded on her door.

Baby shot up and turned towards the door, making a sound that was _suspiciously_ close to barking.

Chloe wondered if leaving the telly on to reruns of Lassie during the day so Baby could have some sort of entertainment was such a good idea after all.

Picking up the feisty little thing, whose tail was wagging excitedly, Chloe laid the contract and pen on the table and got up, going to the door and staring out of the peephole.

Seeing who was on the other side, Chloe took in a deep breath and unlocked and opened the door. "Ben."

He stood there, clearing his throat. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." She moved out of the way, letting him in, before closing the door behind him. "How are you?"

"Fine. More confused than ever, but fine." His gaze went to Baby when the creature grunted at him. "I was right. They _are_ experimenting."

She looked away. "I can't discuss this with you."

He nodded. "I-uh-yeah. I didn't come here to-." He stopped and took in a deep breath, starting over. "How are _you_? I was worried, what with that thing still out there and-."

"It's not. Out there, I mean." She motioned towards the sofa and they sat down once more. "It was taken care of."

"Good." Ben nodded, looking down at his shoes before looking up at her once more. "I was put back on duty. I'm guessing Lester had something to do with that."

She nodded. "He doesn't want you having so much free time on your hands."

He shook his head. "They aren't sure what to assign me to as yet, but once they do I probably will be very busy."

She was silent.

She didn't like the sound of that.

It was amazing how used she'd gotten to just looking out of her window and seeing him struggling with his decision to confront her or not.

"I was wondering if you'd like to get a coffee with me on one of my days off." He replied slowly. "I realize that I just barged into your life and refused to leave despite you telling me to, but I'm, if you tell me that you don't want to see me again I'll understand. I-."

"I want to." Chloe cut in, clearing her throat. "See you again, I mean." She ducked her gaze, finger caressing Baby's beak. "I didn't leave that time because I wanted to, Ben. And...and I couldn't see you before because of...well you can guess why...but now that you kinda know..." She cleared her throat and looked up at him with a smile as she reached over and placed her hand on his. "I'd _really_ like to get to know you again. We could be...friends...again."

His hand turned slightly so that his fingers clasped around hers. "I'd like that."

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The next morning the Anomaly Research team, Helen, Lester, Claudia and Ryan and his men found themselves by the anomaly in the Forest of Dean. Nick had protested Chloe going through the glowing portal with him them, but as Chloe had pointed out, she had more experience with anomalies than anyone other than Helen. In the end she'd won the argument, and had leaned against a tree, watching two soldiers carry a box of gear through the anomaly. There was another box containing the baby creatures.

Stephen stood with Nick.

"Be careful with them. They're our only hope of finding the future anomaly." Nick reminded the soldiers before turning to Stephen. "If I don't make it back, push Lester through the worst anomaly you can find."

"It's a given." Stephen replied, shaking Nicks hand before leaving when Claudia appeared.

"What happens if it closes while you're on the other side?" The redhead asked the blonde, worry obvious on her face.

"We wait until it re-opens." Nick replied.

Helen noticed Nick and Claudia talking, and walked over to the anomaly. "I think we should get going."

"Don't go. Stay." Claudia was as close as pleading as Chloe had ever seen before. "I think this is a mistake. I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Chloe watched them, wondering what it would have been like last night if she'd told Ben that today she'd be going through an anomaly into the past. Would he look like Claudia did now as she tried to convince Nick not to go?

"It's going to be fine." Nick smiled at her. "I'll see you soon." He turned and walked towards the anomaly, watching as Ryan and two other soldiers took the box with the creature through first.

"Think I should make a speech?" Lester could be heard asking Claudia as he stood overseeing the project, hands clasped behind his back, feet slightly apart, looking quite at home in the middle of the forest in his striped suit and bright yellow tie. "One small step for man, that sort of thing?"

"Maybe another time." Claudia muttered distractedly before running forwards and grabbing Nick, kissing him.

He remained still in surprise for a couple of seconds before kissing back.

Chloe felt torn, looking at Nick and then at Helen and back.

Everyone else either looked surprised or looked away.

Claudia finally released Nick and walked back to stand by Lester.

The man raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, _that_ wasn't very professional."

She grinned. "Stuff professionalism."

Stephen, Connor and Abby smirked at each other in the background.

Helen turned to Nick and raised an eyebrow at him.

He just laughed and went through the anomaly, Helen following.

Chloe held back for a second before following, feeling that electric shock that entered her veins every time she entered the anomaly, feeling it throbbing within her, and then arriving on the other side, turning back immediately, relieved to see that unlike the other anomalies she'd stepped through, it hadn't closed. She reached out and touched the throbbing, glittering particles, feeling her palm and fingers tingle at the magnetic energy, as the anomaly seemed to purr like a creature. The blonde then turned and followed the others, as Nick and Helen led the way across the landscape leaving three of the soldiers to carry the two large metal crates between them.

Chloe noted that Nick was still smiling.

So did Helen. "That was a very touching farewell."

"Hmm. Yep." He nodded, chuckling. "Worked for me."

"I suppose the object of the exercise was to punish me in some way?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Actually," he moved so that he was leaving her behind. "It wasn't about you at all."

From his post next to her, Ryan sent Chloe a glance. "This must be somewhat awkward for you."

She snorted, giving him a look. "You have _no_ idea."

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In the Forest of Dean, Abby and Stephen stood close together, soldiers were busy doing their work, Claudia and Lester were off to the side discussing something that seemed to agitate Claudia, and Connor was on the phone. Abby frowned, eyeing their leaders suspiciously. She was almost sure she'd heard something about Chloe and contracts and examinations, so obviously the girl had gone against Abby's warning and signed Lester's contract. And now he'd informed Claudia of it. And the redhead wasn't happy. She wasn't happy at _all_ if her expression and the chopping hand movements had anything to say about it. Abby could also pick up words like "inhuman" and "against the law" from the redhead, while Lester looked unimpressed with this and something about "consent" was thrown back at the woman.

"_What_?" Connor squeaked to whoever it was he was talking to on the phone. "Are you _sure_?"

Stephen turned towards Connor, eyes narrowed. "Connor?" He walked up the the shorter male.

Connor waved him off, still talking to the person on the mobile. "There's no chance you could have made a mistake?"

"Connor, give me the phone."

Connor dodged Stephen's attempt to swipe his mobile. "Okay, I understand. Thanks." Ending the call he looked up from Stephen to Abby and back. "That was the lab."

Stephen's eyes narrowed. "What did they say?"

"They just finished the autopsy on the creature from the future." Connor brought his thumb to his mouth and began to chew on the nail in a very nervous trait. "And it proved beyond any doubt that it was _a male_."

"_Male_?" Abby gasped in horror.

Stephen took in a deep breath, obviously trying to keep calm. "It's got to be female, it was nurturing its young."

"Maybe in this species, that's a job for the boys." Connor countered.

"It _better_ be," Stephen's eyes narrowed. "Because if not…it means the mother's still out there."

The oscilloscope started beeping more rapidly where they'd left it, but no one noticed, too busy and concerned with their own matters. They also missed the creature that rushed behind them and dove into the anomaly, only witnessing a flash of light after the creature had disappeared into another time.

They turned towards the anomaly and stepped closer to it as Claudia and some soldiers joined them.

"What happened?" Claudia asked, turning to them.

"I'm not sure." Connor replied truthfully, though he sent a worried look to Abby, who returned it.

"Did you see something?" The redhead pressed.

"Nothing." Stephen answered, his face uneasy.

Connor pulled his compass out of his pocket and moved closer to the anomaly.

Claudia watched him intently, worry obvious on her every feature. "Is the anomaly getting weaker?"

He looked down at it before looking back at them and shaking his head. "No. No change."

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As the two soldiers set up camp, Helen took pictures, Ryan kept on guard, eyes alert on their surroundings, and Nick kept an eye on Chloe, who had wandered a little distance from the camp despite Nick's many calls for her to stay close. He knew he was being somewhat overprotective, but this was his daughter, his only child, and he'd lost her twice to anomalies before. It was only natural for him to be on pins and needles at this moment, his worry over her safety keeping him from fully enjoying the fact that he was in the past, and searching a portal to the future.

His eyes narrowed.

Had she gone further again?

"_Chloe_!" He yelled. "Get back here! You don't know what sort of creature is out there and hunters _always_ pick off the ones that stray from the herd!"

She turned towards his voice, the annoyance obvious even from this distance. "I _have_ stayed in the past longer than _you_, you know!" She called back, not making any effort to follow his orders and come closer. "Stop worrying!"

"She's right, you know." Helen announced, arriving at his side, camera in hand. "The time she was in the Jurassic with me she was wary to an intelligent degree and yet otherwise she was fitting in, getting used to it." The brunette raised her chin. "Had she spent more time with me in this era, I doubt she would have wanted to go back to the _flat_."

Nick took in a deep breath, like he always had to do around his wife nowadays. "She doesn't belong in this time, Helen. You've kept her from being where she truly belonged her whole life. Don't tell me you plan on trying to convince her to continue misplaced in time."

"Why not?" Helen asked. "_I_ have been traveling through time for eight years."

"And we all seen how much good _that_ has gotten you. No friends. No connection to your family."

"Careful Nick, you sound bitter."

He preferred not to answer that.

She pressed her camera into his chest. "Stop complaining and take a picture of me."

He raised and eyebrow.

How had she gone from one topic to the other so easily?

Sighing, not wanting anther argument, Nick took the camera and began snapping shots of Helen as she posed and smiled at the camera.

And then.

And then he froze in horror.

These pictures.

These...these were the pictures in the camera they'd found that first time they'd gone through the anomaly. The pictures in the camera they'd found at the ruined campsite with the skeleton.

Fear grabbed at his spine with icy fingers as the blonde slowly realized that the ruined camp they'd found was the one being set up right now.

"_We're in danger_."

Helen frowned. "_What_?"

"The camp. It's the camp we saw the first time. _We made it_." He looked up in horror, turning to where Chloe was so far from them. "_CHLOE ANN CUTTER! COME HERE NOW!"_

Chloe froze up ahead, either from the tone of his voice or because of what he'd called her, he wasn't sure. But something reacted in her, because she didn't complain, didn't speak, only turned and hurried back towards them.

Helen looked confused. "What's going on, Nick?"

"It's us, we're the intruders." He ran back down the slope to warn Ryan, yelling to him as he went. "Ryan! The camp from our first trip! It was us!"

The head soldier turned towards him, eyes narrowed. "The camp we found was old. There was a dead body."

Helen and Chloe hurried down the slope as Nick grabbed one of the metal supply boxes and opened it.

"Don't you see?" He pulled out a Yorkie bar, the same thing that'd been in the box of the ruined campsite. "We've arrived years before the first time we came here." He dropped the Yorkie bar and slammed the box shut, turning to Ryan. " We've created our own past."

The baby creatures started squealing and jumping around.

Ryan and his men brought their guns up.

"We must be near the anomaly." Helen whispered, excitement obvious in her every feature as she turned to her husband. "This is it Nick, we've found it. We've found the future!"

He shook his head at her. "That's all you cared about. You just wanted to find the future for yourself."

Helen tried to kiss him, but he pushed her away. The brunette shrugged his reaction off and turned in the direction that Ryan and one of his men had gone in...just in time to watch, with eyes wide in horror, as another adult predator attacked the soldier.

Ryan appeared on the ridge above them. "Stay back!"

The baby creatures squealed and clawed at the bars of their cage, and the solider by the cage stood with his hands over his ears, wincing in agony.

"_Chloe_!" Nick hurried to his daughter's side, keeping the petite blonde behind him. "Don't move." He whispered. "And don't make a sound."

She nodded jerkily, trembling hand reaching for his.

He squeezed it reassuringly.

The creature slaughtered the soldier guarding over the babies brutally before their very eyes.

Chloe's shaking grew worse.

And she felt as if she was getting a fever, her hand warming up in his.

Ryan raced down the hill towards it, firing at the creature, wounding it and causing it to retreat enough for him to open the cage, setting the babies free and distracting the adult. Even though it was distracted, the creature turned and lunged at Ryan, knocking him to the ground and clawing and biting at him, Ryan's screams echoing throughout the once peaceful landscape.

"_No_!" Chloe screamed, trying to run towards them but Nick grabbed her on time, pulling her back and keeping her there despite her struggles. "_Tom_!"

At the sound, the creature turned, looking at them, blood covering it.

The soldiers' blood.

Tom Ryan's blood.

Chloe was shaking like a leaf in a harsh breeze. "_No_."

The predator made as if to charge them, when suddenly a gorgonopsid emerged from the trees.

Nick's eyes widened at the two predators, and he dove out of the larger creature's way, pulling Chloe with him as the gorgonopsid head butted the future predator, knocking it out. Then, attracted to the sound of the babies, it charged them, killing them viciously and brutally, before consuming their remains.

While the animals were distracted, Nick pulled Chloe to her feet and they hurried towards where Ryan laid.

Above them, on higher, safer ground, Helen observed silently.

"_Tom_." Chloe whispered, dropping to her knees next to Ryan, eyes watering as she view his state.

He was seriously wounded, and covered in blood.

Nick crouched next to him and tried to cover his injuries, neither noticing the future predator awakening to see the gorgonopsid killing and eating it young, until the creature roared in fury and charged the larger one. A fight quickly broke out between them. The predator was quick, managing to hurt the dinosaur, but then the gorgonopsid crushed the creature against a tree and the roared and limped away, dragging its kill with it.

Helen watched it from the ridge.

Tears streamed down Chloe's face as she gazed down heartbrokenly at her comrade, holding his hand and cradling his head on her lap.

Nick had closed Ryan's jacket over his wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

It wasn't working.

These wounds.

They were too deep.

He was losing too much blood to quickly.

"The first time we came here, that body we found, that was me, wasn't it?" Ryan whispered to Nick. "I was looking at myself."

Nick said nothing, lowering his head.

A half sob escaped Chloe's lips as she bent over and pressed a kiss to his forehead, her tears washing away from of the blood on his face. "_Don't say that_."

"Don't cry..." Ryan tried to squeeze her hand and yet not strong enough to. "I was going to ask you to coffee one of these days, you know. Becker or no Becker."

Nick watched them, barely able to keep the tears back himself.

Chloe's lip trembled as she formed so sad a smile with it. "I would have said yes." Leaning back down she pressed a soft kiss to his bloodied lips.

"He's gone." Nick whispered, feeling Ryan go lax.

Chloe just kept her head bent, crying softly over Captain Tom Ryan's body.

Nick felt his heart breaking, too much sadness in his heart.

But he had to be strong.

Taking in a deep breath, he rubbed Chloe's back, turning slight at the waist so he could look at Helen, who'd approached the bodies of the baby creatures.

"Did any of the young survive?"

"Looks like they're all dead." She replied after a moment's contemplation.

"This is over." Nick stood, barely able to keep himself calm and in control for his daughter's sake. "We're leaving. We should bury the men."

Helen looked over the death with an analytical eye, not seeming moved by the waste of human life.

Chloe, on the other hand, couldn't stop crying. Even as she stood and helped drag the bodies-or Ryan's body and what remained of the other two soldiers' bodies-and dig holes for them she was pausing every couple of minutes to wipe her eyes before continuing on. Nick watched over her in worry. Things like this was one of the reasons why he hadn't wanted her to cross over with them. Despite everything she'd been through, she'd had yet to witness something like this, lose someone dear to her to something so vicious and cruel. And now, now she was going to be changed by it.

He didn't like that at all.

Of course he didn't say that, and stayed silent as they built a cairn over Ryan's grave.

When it was over, Chloe said a soft prayer over the graves.

While Nick and Helen were Evolutionists themselves, Chloe had been brought up Catholic, and while she'd admitted to not being a practicing Catholic, some things stuck.

Finishing the prayer, crossing herself, Chloe looked up, eyes finding Nick's. "I want to go home."

He nodded.

He did too.

"We don't have to go back, Nick, Chloe." Helen finally broke her silence. "The future anomaly must be here somewhere, we can still find it."

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't." Chloe's watery gaze lowered to Ryan's grave. "I _can't_."

Disappointment entered Helen's eyes.

Nick shook his head at her. "The future. Helen Cutter's last great frontier." He laughed bitterly. "No. If you want to stay here and look for it, it's fine. But you're going to have to do it on your own, because we're leaving."

"What have you got to go back for Nick? That _girl_?" Helen scoffed. "_Please_ don't tell me you're in love with her."

"Maybe, you know. Maybe." He replied pointblank. "But that's not really the point.

"Then what is the point, Professor?" The brunette sneered, folding her arms over her chest.

"The point is," he replied, going to their daughter and placing an arm around her trembling shoulders. "We know where we belong." He turned to Chloe and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head before grabbing Ryan's gun with his other hand. "Come on, love."

Chloe nodded, wiping at her eyes, and giving the cairn one last look before letting him lead her away.

Helen hesitated, watching their backs, before following.

The trip to the anomaly was made in deep silence, and no one looked back.

If they had, they would have seen two predator babies standing on the ridge, exploring their new home.

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By the time they walked through the anomaly into the present, with Nick still holding Ryan's gun, Chloe had managed to get control of her tears.

"What happened?" Lester asked the second they walked through, stepping towards them. "Did you find the anomaly?"

Helen walked through behind them.

"Captain Ryan didn't make it, and all his men are dead." Nick finally dropped the gun. "Whatever happens, nobody goes back through."

Helen cleared her throat. "Well, I'm sorry to break your new rule so soon, Nick, but, um, I'm not staying."

Chloe turned towards her mother, eyes wide, as Helen moved away from Nick so that she was standing between him and the others.

Nick stared at her. "Well, what did you come back for then?"

"Oh, just a little, um, unfinished business." She then turned to look at Stephen.

Nick looked at Stephen in confusion.

Chloe's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Stephen narrowed his eyes at Helen.

"You see, Nick, it was just one of those things. I was lonely, and you didn't seem to care about me." A filthy smile touched Helen's lips. "And Stephen was so sweet and attentive."

Nick looked back and forth between Helen and Stephen.

Stephen shook his head. "_Shut up_, Helen."

"Oh, you mean you never told him?" A mock shocked expression entered her face as she brought her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear."

Nick and Stephen stared at each other, while Abby eyed Stephen quite pitifully.

Lester cleared his throat. "What an extremely awkward moment."

Helen seemed to take this as her cue, since she continued. "You see, I don't want to be on my own anymore."

Nick hung his head.

Stephen turned a heated glare at Helen.

"Really?" Chloe asked, surprising her mother into turning to her, the woman flinching as she saw the anger on the blonde's face. "Because you're doing a damed good job of making sure that happens."

Connor and Abby shared a look.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Helen replied slowly. "But I understand. You're in pain right now after seeing what happened to your friend, and so you're lashing out at the first thing you can. Me."

Chloe's eyes widened.

The woman couldn't _truly_ believe that _that_ was the reason behind the blonde's anger!

Helen was hurting Nick.

She was hurting Stephen.

On _purpose_!

And she thought Chloe was just being emotionally _unstable_?

Helen turned towards Stephen. "You once said you'd do anything for me if I gave you the chance. Well, here it is. Come with me."

Stephen shook his head as the woman approached him. "Don't do this."

Nick still had his head bowed, while abby looked upset and Connor looked at Stephen with confusion.

"Falling for one of your students is never a good idea, but…" Helen turned to Nick as he raised his head. "Sometimes these things just happen, you know?"

Nick looked passed her, eyes meeting Stephen's. "How could you keep that from me for so many years?"

Stephen approached Nick, eyes pleading for forgiveness. "There was no point in saying anything. It was a long time ago. In the past."

"The past has a habit of coming back these days, doesn't it?" Helen chuckled darkly from behind them.

Nick let go of Chloe and walked away to stand by the edge of the trees, leaving Stephen, Helen, and Chloe standing in front of the anomaly.

"Well?" Helen raised an eyebrow to Stephen. "Are you coming?"

The tall, dark haired male turned and walked over to her.

Nick looked like he was about to cry, and the others were trying to be invisible in the background.

"You know what I'd forgotten, Helen?" Stephen asked once he reached her side. "Sometimes, you can be a _real bitch_." And with that he walked away, to stand next to Nick, not close enough to make the man feel uncomfortable after what had just happened, but close enough to prove just whom he was going to stand by and who his loyalties belonged to.

Nick and Helen shared a look, before Helen turned towards the anomaly, about to leave.

Chloe took a step towards her. "Why?"

Helen stopped to look at her. "Why what?"

"Stephen will _always_ be faithful to Nick, despite that...stumble." Chloe couldn't think of another way to put it. "You knew that. You _know_ that. You must have realized that eight years would have only made their friendship stronger."

Helen just looked at her, standing back to the anomaly.

"Why would you play this move?" Chloe wanted to know, unable to understand, _wanting_ to understand. "Now Nick and Stephen..._why_?"

"It was my last move." Helen replied softly.

"No it isn't." Chloe took another step towards her mother, eyes watering. "_Stay_. We've seen how lives can be lost in a second's notice. _Stay_."

Helen seemed shocked. "I doubt Nick would let me stay in our home anymore."

"Then stay in my flat, with me and Baby." Chloe pressed, finally taking the last step, reaching for her mother's hand and squeezing it. "_Stay_. You're a bitch, but you're _my mother_." She took in a deep breath. "I want to...have that relationship...with you."

A choked chuckle escaped Helen's lips as she looked down at their hands and then reached up with her other hand to caress Chloe's cheek. "I'll come visit you soon." And with that she let her fingers slide through Chloe's and she stepped backwards into the anomaly, disappearing.

Chloe gazed at the anomaly.

Feeling warmth, she looked up, seeing Nick there, hand on her shoulder.

The blonde girl took in a deep breath and turned to the others.

Nick frowned, gaze on the crowd. "Where's Claudia?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Chloe noticed, for the first time as well, that Claudia wasn't around, which was odd, since Chloe would have expected the redhead to be waiting impatiently by the anomaly for Nick to emerge.

"Claudia?" Lester raised an eyebrow.

"Where's Claudia Brown?" Nick tried once more, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know anyone of that name." Lester replied.

"Ok, enough with the fun and games." Chloe frowned, a bad feeling churning in her stomach. "Where's Claudia?"

"We really, we..." Stephen cleared his throat. "We don't know what you're talking about."

Connor nodded, confusion clear on his ever expressive face. "Never heard of her."

Nick and Chloe exchanged horrified looks.

"But you're been working with her everyday for _months_!" Chloe turned to the others, unable to understand _anything_ that'd happened since they'd walked through the anomaly. "You can't tell us that you don't know who she is!"

"No idea, sorry." Lester shook his head.

Nick snapped at that, walking up to Lester and grabbing him by the front of his jacket. "_Where is she_?"

"Nick!" Chloe gasped from where she stood before the anomaly, trying to ignore how its throbbing was increasing in potency.

"Cutter!" Connor turned towards him. "We don't know her. I _swear_ it!"

"No one knows her!" Abby agreed.

Nick let go of Lester, those words seeming to hit him like bricks, as he took a couple of steps back.

Everyone was eyeing him as if he'd gone mad.

He turned to Chloe. "You remember her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." She nodded. "I remember Claudia Brown. She _exists_."

"Then why can _no one_ but you two remember this Claudia Brown woman?" Lester wanted to know, a little annoyed as he straightened his jacket.

"Something's wrong." Her father whispered, eyes widening in sudden realization as he turned towards her, ignoring the others. "This isn't right. Something's gone wrong. Something's happened. Something's changed. We've done something, we've… Something that we've done has changed the past and she's not here anymore."

Chloe's eyes widened as she turned towards the anomaly. "We did something in there we weren't supposed to."

Suddenly the throbbing coming from the anomaly seemed to pierce through her, and with a cry of pain she collapsed to her knees on the ground, clutching at her chest, as suddenly everything was hot and bright and she couldn't breathe.

Something else which shouldn't be happening, was.

"_Chloe_?" Nick whispered in horror.

She was in _agony_, burning inside, as she looked at him, tears evaporating visibly from her cheeks. "_Dad_..."

Before he could rush to her side, the anomaly flashed a few times before exploding, expanding, encompassing Chloe, and then everyone else.

And then all was light.

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**Season One finished! Yay!**

**Season Two *is* planned, but not sure when it will be worked on.**

**Review?**


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